Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / Slovenia — National Math Olympiad /94 of 122

Slovenia — National Math Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

In the triangle ABCABC let DD be the foot of the altitude to the side ABAB. Given the points EE and FF on the sides ADAD and BCBC, such that ∠BAF=∠ACE\angle BAF = \angle ACE, let the segments AFAF and CECE intersect at GG and let the segments AFAF and CDCD intersect at TT. Find the angles of the triangle ABCABC, given that CGFCGF is an equilateral triangle and the triangle AETAET is isosceles with the apex at EE.

Solution

Denote ∠BAF=∠ACE=φ\angle BAF = \angle ACE = \varphi. Since CGFCGF is an equilateral triangle, we have ∠CGA=120∘\angle CGA = 120^\circ. Thus, ∠GAC=180∘−∠CGA−∠ACG=60∘−φ\angle GAC = 180^\circ - \angle CGA - \angle ACG = 60^\circ - \varphi and ∠BAC=∠BAF+∠GAC=φ+60∘−φ=60∘\angle BAC = \angle BAF + \angle GAC = \varphi + 60^\circ - \varphi = 60^\circ.

Since the triangle AETAET is isosceles, we have ∠ETA=φ=∠ECA\angle ETA = \varphi = \angle ECA. So the points AA, EE, TT and CC are concyclic. Thus, ∠ECT=∠EAT=φ\angle ECT = \angle EAT = \varphi
and 2φ=∠ACE+∠ECD=∠ACD=π2−∠DAC=30∘2\varphi = \angle ACE + \angle ECD = \angle ACD = \frac{\pi}{2} - \angle DAC = 30^\circ, which implies φ=15∘\varphi = 15^\circ.

Finally, we can calculate ∠CBA=∠FBA=60∘−φ=45∘\angle CBA = \angle FBA = 60^\circ - \varphi = 45^\circ and ∠ACB=75∘\angle ACB = 75^\circ.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

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