Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /3 of 4

Geometry Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle, and let DD, EE, FF be the feet of its altitudes from AA, BB, CC, respectively. The lines ABAB and DEDE cross at KK and the lines ACAC and DFDF cross at LL. Let MM be the midpoint of the side BCBC and let the line AMAM cross the circle ABCABC again at NN. Finally, the parallel through MM to EFEF crosses the line KLKL at PP. Show that the triangle MNPMNP is isosceles.
Andrei Bâra

Solution

Figure 1
We will show that PMPM and PNPN are the tangents from PP to ω\omega; the conclusion then follows at once.

We first prove that PMPM is the tangent of ω\omega at MM. The tangent of ω\omega at MM is parallel to the tangent of Γ\Gamma at AA, which is in turn parallel to EFEF. Since MPMP is the parallel through MM to EFEF, it follows that PMPM is the tangent of ω\omega at MM.
Next, we show that PMPM is the tangent of γ\gamma at MM. Since the factor 12-\frac{1}{2} homothety from the barycentre of the triangle ABCABC exchanges the pairs (AA, Γ\Gamma) and (MM, γ\gamma), the tangent of γ\gamma at MM is parallel to the tangent of Γ\Gamma at AA; and since the latter is parallel to EFEF, so is the former. Consequently, PMPM, the parallel through MM to EFEF, is the tangent of γ\gamma at MM.
By the preceding, PMPM is the radical axis of γ\gamma and ω\omega. Since ω\omega is a homothetic image of Γ\Gamma from NN, their radical axis is their common tangent at NN.
Consequently, PNPN is the other tangent of ω\omega from PP if and only if PP is the radical centre of Γ\Gamma, γ\gamma and ω\omega, which is the case if and only if PP lies on the radical axis of Γ\Gamma and γ\gamma. Since PP lies on KLKL, it is sufficient to show that KLKL is radical axis of Γ\Gamma and γ\gamma.
Finally, we prove that KLKL is radical axis of Γ\Gamma and γ\gamma. The powers of KK with respect to Γ\Gamma and γ\gamma are KAKBKA \cdot KB and KDKEKD \cdot KE, respectively. The two are equal since ABDEABDE is cyclic, so KK lies on the radical axis of Γ\Gamma and γ\gamma. Similarly, LL lies on their radical axis, so KLKL is the radical axis of the two circles. This completes the solution.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.