Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.0 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

ABCDABCD is a cyclic quadrilateral in which AB=3AB = 3, BC=5BC = 5, CD=6CD = 6, and AD=10AD = 10. MM, II, and TT are the feet of the perpendiculars from DD to lines ABAB, ACAC, and BCBC respectively. Determine the value of MI/ITMI / IT.

Figure 1

Solution

Solution:

Answer: 259\frac{25}{9}. Quadrilaterals AMIDAMID and DICTDICT are cyclic, having right angles AMD\angle AMD, AID\angle AID, and CID\angle CID, CTD\angle CTD respectively. We see that MM, II, and TT are collinear. For, mMID=πmDAM=πmDAB=mBCD=πmDCT=πmDITm \angle MID = \pi - m \angle DAM = \pi - m \angle DAB = m \angle BCD = \pi - m \angle DCT = \pi - m \angle DIT. Therefore, Menelaus' theorem applied to triangle MTBMTB and line ICAICA gives
MIITTCCBBAAM=1 \frac{MI}{IT} \cdot \frac{TC}{CB} \cdot \frac{BA}{AM} = 1
On the other hand, triangle ADMADM is similar to triangle CDTCDT since AMDCTD\angle AMD \cong \angle CTD and DAMDCT\angle DAM \cong \angle DCT and thus AM/CT=AD/CDAM / CT = AD / CD. It follows that
MIIT=BCAMABCT=BCADABCD=51036=259 \frac{MI}{IT} = \frac{BC \cdot AM}{AB \cdot CT} = \frac{BC \cdot AD}{AB \cdot CD} = \frac{5 \cdot 10}{3 \cdot 6} = \frac{25}{9}

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