Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 8.3 Shortlist Prove it Germany

Problem:

Given is a triangle ABCABC and a point MM such that the lines MAMA, MBMB, MCMC intersect the lines BCBC, CACA, ABAB (in this order) at DD, EE and FF respectively.
Prove that there always exist numbers ε1,ε2,ε3\varepsilon_{1}, \varepsilon_{2}, \varepsilon_{3} from {1,1}\{-1,1\} such that:
ε1MDAD+ε2MEBE+ε3MFCF=1 \varepsilon_{1} \cdot \frac{MD}{AD} + \varepsilon_{2} \cdot \frac{ME}{BE} + \varepsilon_{3} \cdot \frac{MF}{CF} = 1

Solution

Solution:

The point MM (M{A,B,C}M \notin \{A, B, C\}) can lie either on one of the given lines, or in one of the seven regions into which the plane of the triangle ABCABC is divided by the lines ABAB, BCBC, CACA.

Figure 1

It is always
MDAD=MPha=0,5MPBC0,5haBC=F(MBC)F(ABC), (intercept theorem)  \begin{aligned} & \frac{MD}{AD} = \frac{MP}{h_a} = \frac{0,5 \cdot MP \cdot BC}{0,5 \cdot h_a \cdot BC} = \frac{F(MBC)}{F(ABC)}, \\ & \text{ (intercept theorem) } \end{aligned}
where PBCP \in BC and MPBCMP \perp BC and F(XYZ)F(XYZ) is the area of triangle XYZXYZ. Similar relations hold for the other ratios.

If MM lies in the interior or on the boundary of triangle ABCABC, then we have:
MDAD+MEBE+MFCF=F(MBC)F(ABC)+F(MCA)F(ABC)+F(MAB)F(ABC)=1 \frac{MD}{AD} + \frac{ME}{BE} + \frac{MF}{CF} = \frac{F(MBC)}{F(ABC)} + \frac{F(MCA)}{F(ABC)} + \frac{F(MAB)}{F(ABC)} = 1
from which ε1=ε2=ε3=1\varepsilon_{1} = \varepsilon_{2} = \varepsilon_{3} = 1 follows.

Similar considerations also lead to the goal when MM lies outside triangle ABCABC, except that ε1\varepsilon_{1}, ε2\varepsilon_{2} or ε3=1\varepsilon_{3} = -1, if MM lies in region I, II or III respectively. Should MM lie in regions IV, V or VI, then exactly two of the εi\varepsilon_{i} are equal to 1-1.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from de; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.