Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /45 of 87

Geometry Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Russia

On the boundary of triangle ABCABC points D1,D2,E1,E2,F1,F2D_1, D_2, E_1, E_2, F_1, F_2 are chosen so that when going around the perimeter, the points are encountered in the following order: A,F1,F2,B,D1,D2,C,E1,E2A, F_1, F_2, B, D_1, D_2, C, E_1, E_2. Given that AD1=AD2=BE1=BE2=CF1=CF2AD_1 = AD_2 = BE_1 = BE_2 = CF_1 = CF_2, prove that two triangles formed by the triples of lines AD1,BE1,CF1AD_1, BE_1, CF_1, and AD2,BE2,CF2AD_2, BE_2, CF_2, have equal perimeters.

Solution

Let's begin with the following useful lemma.

Lemma. Let points FF and EE be chosen on sides ABAB and ACAC of parallelogram ABKCABKC respectively, such that BE=CFBE = CF. Then point KK is equidistant from lines BEBE and CFCF (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1

Рис. 1

Proof. Since BKECBK \parallel EC and CKFBCK \parallel FB, we have SKBE=SKBC=SKFCS_{KBE} = S_{KBC} = S_{KFC}. As BE=CFBE = CF, it follows that the distances from point KK to lines BEBE and CFCF are equal. \square

Now let's proceed to the solution. Suppose the lines given in the condition form triangles X1Y1Z1X_1Y_1Z_1 and X2Y2Z2X_2Y_2Z_2 (points are labeled as in Fig. 2).

Choose point KK such that ABKCABKC is a parallelogram; according to the lemma, point KK is equidistant from lines BE1,CF1,BE2BE_1, CF_1, BE_2 and CF2CF_2; therefore, there exists a circle centered at KK that is tangent to these lines at points P1,Q1,P2P_1, Q_1, P_2 and Q2Q_2 respectively. Then from the equality of tangent segments we obtain:

Figure 2

Рис. 2

BX1CX1=BP1+X1P1X1Q1+CQ1=BP2+CQ2==BP2X2P2+X2Q2+CQ2=CX2BX2. \begin{aligned} BX_1 - CX_1 &= BP_1 + X_1P_1 - X_1Q_1 + CQ_1 = BP_2 + CQ_2 = \\ &= BP_2 - X_2P_2 + X_2Q_2 + CQ_2 = CX_2 - BX_2. \end{aligned}

Similarly, we get CY1AY1=AY2CY2CY_1 - AY_1 = AY_2 - CY_2 and AZ1BZ1=BZ2AZ2AZ_1 - BZ_1 = BZ_2 - AZ_2. Adding these three equalities yields the required equality of perimeters.

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 reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.