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Geometry Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Ireland

In triangle ABC\triangle ABC, the angle BAC\angle BAC is less than 9090^\circ. The perpendiculars from CC on ABAB and from BB on ACAC intersect the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC again at DD and EE respectively. If DE=BC|DE| = |BC|, find the measure of the angle BAC\angle BAC.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Let CDCD and BEBE intersect ABAB and ACAC at FF and GG respectively. Let PP be the intersection point of CDCD and BEBE.

Because DEB=DCB\angle DEB = \angle DCB and DE=BC|DE| = |BC| it follows that DPE\triangle DPE is congruent to BPC\triangle BPC. In particular, DP=BP|DP| = |BP|. This implies BDP=PBD\angle BDP = \angle PBD.

The quadrilateral FPGAFPGA is cyclic as it has right angles at FF and GG. Hence, BAC=DPB\angle BAC = \angle DPB. Finally, BDP=BDC=BAC\angle BDP = \angle BDC = \angle BAC (both are subtended by BCBC), hence BDP\angle BDP is equilateral and so its internal angles are equal to 6060^\circ. Therefore, BAC=DPB=60\angle BAC = \angle DPB = 60^\circ.

Figure 1

Solution 2

Let CDCD and BEBE intersect ABAB and ACAC at FF and GG respectively. Because of the right angles at FF and GG we have DAB=DCB=90ABC\angle DAB = \angle DCB = 90^\circ - \angle ABC and CAE=CBE=90ACB\angle CAE = \angle CBE = 90^\circ - \angle ACB.

Therefore, the inscribed angle subtended by DEDE is equal to
DAE=DAB+BAC+CAE=180(ABC+ACB)+BAC=2BAC. \begin{aligned} \angle DAE &= \angle DAB + \angle BAC + \angle CAE \\ &= 180^\circ - (\angle ABC + \angle ACB) + \angle BAC = 2\angle BAC. \end{aligned}

Because a chord that subtends (on either side) an inscribed angle α\alpha in a circle of radius RR has length 2Rsinα2R \sin \alpha, we obtain now
DE=2Rsin(2BAC)=4Rsin(BAC)cos(BAC)andBC=2Rsin(BAC). \begin{aligned} |DE| &= 2R \sin (2\angle BAC) \\ &= 4R \sin (\angle BAC) \cos (\angle BAC) \quad \text{and} \\ |BC| &= 2R \sin (\angle BAC). \end{aligned}

From DE=BC|DE| = |BC| we get cos(BAC)=1/2\cos (\angle BAC) = 1/2, thus BAC=60\angle BAC = 60^\circ.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.