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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

In the isosceles triangle ABCABC, with AB=ACAB = AC, the angle bisector of B^\widehat{B} intersects side ACAC at BB'. Suppose that BB+BA=BCBB' + B'A = BC. Find the angles of the triangle.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

On the side BCBC take point MM such that CM=ABCM = AB'. The angle bisector theorem implies
ABBC=ABBC=ACBC, hence MCBC=ACBC. \frac{AB'}{B'C} = \frac{AB}{BC} = \frac{AC}{BC} \text{, hence } \frac{MC}{B'C} = \frac{AC}{BC} \text{.}
Figure 1
It follows MCAC=BCBC\frac{MC}{AC} = \frac{B'C}{BC}, that is MCBACB\triangle MCB' \sim \triangle ACB, and we get MC=MBMC = MB'. Moreover, C^=MCB^=MBC^\widehat{C} = \widehat{MCB'} = \widehat{MB'C} and MC=MBMC = MB'.
From BB+BA=BCBB' + B'A = BC it follows BB=BCBA=BCMC=BMBB' = BC - B'A = BC - MC = BM, hence BBM\triangle B'BM is isosceles.
In BBM\triangle BB'M we have 180=2C^+2C^+C^2=9C^2180^{\circ} = 2\widehat{C} + 2\widehat{C} + \frac{\widehat{C}}{2} = \frac{9\widehat{C}}{2}, implying C^=40\widehat{C} = 40^{\circ}. It follows
B^=C^=40 and A^=100. \widehat{B} = \widehat{C} = 40^{\circ} \text{ and } \widehat{A} = 100^{\circ} .

Figure 1

Solution 2

In ABB\triangle ABB', we have
BBsin4x=ABsinx=ABsin3x. \frac{BB'}{\sin 4x} = \frac{AB'}{\sin x} = \frac{AB}{\sin 3x} .
In BBC\triangle BB'C we have
BBsin2x=BCsinx=BCsin3x \frac{BB'}{\sin 2x} = \frac{B'C}{\sin x} = \frac{BC}{\sin 3x}
and in ABC\triangle ABC we can write
BCsin4x=ACsin2x. \frac{BC}{\sin 4x} = \frac{AC}{\sin 2x} .

We get
BB+BBsinxsin4x=BBsin3xsin2x BB' + BB' \frac{\sin x}{\sin 4x} = BB' \frac{\sin 3x}{\sin 2x}
hence
1+sinxsin4x=sin3xsin2x \begin{equation*} 1 + \frac{\sin x}{\sin 4x} = \frac{\sin 3x}{\sin 2x} \tag{1} \end{equation*}
Relation (1) is equivalent to
sinxsin4x=sin3xsin2xsin2x, \frac{\sin x}{\sin 4x} = \frac{\sin 3x - \sin 2x}{\sin 2x},
that is
2sinx2cosx22sin2xcos2x=2sinx2cos5x2sin2x. \frac{2 \sin \frac{x}{2} \cos \frac{x}{2}}{2 \sin 2x \cos 2x} = \frac{2 \sin \frac{x}{2} \cos \frac{5x}{2}}{\sin 2x} .
We get
cosx2=2cos2xcos5x2, \cos \frac{x}{2} = 2 \cos 2x \cos \frac{5x}{2},
or
cosx2=cos9x2+cosx2. \cos \frac{x}{2} = \cos \frac{9x}{2} + \cos \frac{x}{2} .
It follows cos9x2=0\cos \frac{9x}{2} = 0, that is 9x2=π2\frac{9x}{2} = \frac{\pi}{2}, and we obtain x=π9x = \frac{\pi}{9}.
Finally,
B^=C^=2π9,A^=5π9. \widehat{B} = \widehat{C} = \frac{2\pi}{9}, \quad \widehat{A} = \frac{5\pi}{9} .

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