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Geometry Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Hong Kong

Suppose ABCDABCD is a cyclic quadrilateral. Extend DADA and DCDC to PP and QQ respectively such that AP=BCAP = BC and CQ=ABCQ = AB. Let MM be the midpoint of PQPQ. Show that MAMCMA \perp MC.

Solution

Let BB' be the point such that ABBCAB'BC is an isosceles trapezoid. Thus, BB' lies on the circle passing through AA, BB, CC, DD. Also, we have AP=CB=ABAP = CB = AB' and CQ=AB=CBCQ = AB = CB'. Let EE and FF be the midpoints of BPB'P and BQB'Q respectively. Then AEBPAE \perp B'P and CFBQCF \perp B'Q.

Figure 1

First of all, as PAB+QCB=(180BAD)+(180BCD)=180\angle PAB' + \angle QCB' = (180^\circ - \angle B'AD) + (180^\circ - \angle B'CD) = 180^\circ, we know that EAB+FCB=90\angle EAB' + \angle FCB' = 90^\circ. This implies the right-angled triangles AEBAEB' and BFCB'FC are similar. Hence, AEAB=BFBC\frac{AE}{AB'} = \frac{B'F}{B'C}.

By the midpoint theorem, BEMFB'EMF is a parallelogram. Therefore, we have
AEEM=AEBF=ABBC. \frac{AE}{EM} = \frac{AE}{B'F} = \frac{AB'}{B'C}.
Together with
AEM=90+BEM=270EBF=270(360ABCABECBF)=ABC, \begin{aligned} \angle AEM &= 90^\circ + \angle B'EM = 270^\circ - \angle EB'F \\ &= 270^\circ - (360^\circ - \angle AB'C - \angle AB'E - \angle CB'F) = \angle AB'C, \end{aligned}
we find that AEMABC\triangle AEM \sim \triangle AB'C. This yields AEBAMC\triangle AEB' \sim \triangle AMC by spiral similarity. Therefore, AMC=AEB=90\angle AMC = \angle AEB' = 90^\circ.

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