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Geometry Difficulty 6.2 National Olympiad Prove it Italy

Let ABCABC be a triangle, let KK be the foot of the bisector relative to BCBC and let JJ be the foot of the trisector relative to BCBC closer to side ACAC (that is, JJ is the point on BCBC such that 3CAJ=CAB3 \cdot \angle CAJ = \angle CAB). Let CC' and BB' be two points on line AJAJ, on the side of JJ with respect to AA, such that AC=ACAC' = AC and AB=ABAB = AB'. Prove that the quadrilateral ABBCABB'C is inscribable in a circle if and only if the lines CKC'K and BBB'B are parallel.

Solution

Let us first set θ=CAJ\theta = \angle CAJ, so that JAB=2θ\angle JAB = 2\theta and JAK=θ/2\angle JAK = \theta / 2.

If the quadrilateral ABBCABB'C is cyclic, then CBB=θ\angle CBB' = \theta, since it subtends the same arc as the angle CAB\angle CAB'. On the other hand, since ABB=ABB=(1802θ)/2\angle AB'B = \angle ABB' = (180^\circ - 2\theta)/2 by construction, the angles JBB\angle JBB' and BBJ\angle BB'J are complementary, so AJAJ is orthogonal to BCBC.

Now, ACC=ACC=(180θ)/2\angle AC'C = \angle ACC' = (180^\circ - \theta)/2, hence JCC=90ACC=θ/2\angle JCC' = 90^\circ - \angle AC'C = \theta / 2. But then CCK=θ/2=CAK\angle C'CK = \theta / 2 = \angle C'AK; this implies that the quadrilateral AKCCAKC'C is cyclic, and hence CKC=CAC=θ=CBB\angle CKC' = \angle CAC' = \theta = \angle CBB'. Since they form congruent corresponding angles with the transversal line BCBC, the lines CKC'K and BBBB' are therefore parallel.

Suppose now that the lines CKC'K and BBBB' are parallel. The corresponding angles ACK\angle AC'K and ABB\angle AB'B formed with line ABAB' must be congruent, hence both equal to (1802θ)/2(180^\circ - 2\theta)/2 (since triangle ABBABB' is isosceles). It follows that KCC=KCA+ACC=18032θ\angle KC'C = \angle KC'A + \angle AC'C = 180^\circ - \frac{3}{2}\theta; hence KCC\angle KC'C is supplementary to CAK\angle CAK, and the quadrilateral CAKCCAKC' is cyclic. But then BBC=CKC=CAC=θ\angle B'BC = \angle C'KC = \angle C'AC = \theta (where the first equality follows from the parallelism and the second from the cyclicity of CAKCCAKC'); hence the quadrilateral CABBCABB' is also cyclic.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.