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Geometry Difficulty 8.4 Shortlist Prove it Romania

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle, and let D,E,FD, E, F be the feet of the altitudes from A,B,CA, B, C, respectively. The lines BCBC and EFEF cross at PP, and the line through DD and parallel to EFEF crosses the lines ACAC and ABAB at QQ and RR, respectively. Prove that the circle PQRPQR passes through the midpoint of the side BCBC.

Solution

Let MM be the midpoint of the side BCBC. If AB=ACAB = AC, then PP is the ideal point of the line BCBC, the points QQ and RR fall at CC and BB, respectively, and the circle PQRPQR degenerates into the line BCBC on which MM clearly lies.

Figure 1

Assume henceforth that ABACAB \neq AC, say, AB>ACAB > AC. It is clearly sufficient to show that
DMDP=DQDR. DM \cdot DP = DQ \cdot DR.
Since EFEF and QRQR are parallel, and B,C,E,FB, C, E, F are concyclic (EE and FF both lie on the circle on diameter BCBC), so are B,C,Q,RB, C, Q, R. Hence DBDC=DQDRDB \cdot DC = DQ \cdot DR, and it is therefore sufficient to show that DBDC=DMDPDB \cdot DC = DM \cdot DP, i.e., BM2=DMMPBM^2 = DM \cdot MP, since DB=BM+DMDB = BM + DM, DC=CMDM=BMDMDC = CM - DM = BM - DM and DP=MPDMDP = MP - DM. Alternatively, but equivalently, DPMP=MP2BM2DP \cdot MP = MP^2 - BM^2, since DM=MPDPDM = MP - DP.

The points D,E,F,MD, E, F, M are concyclic (they all lie on the nine-point circle of the triangle ABCABC), so PDPM=PEPFPD \cdot PM = PE \cdot PF. The points B,C,E,FB, C, E, F are also concyclic (recall that EE and FF both lie on the circle on diameter BCBC), so PEPF=PBPCPE \cdot PF = PB \cdot PC. Consequently, DPMP=PBPC=(BM+MP)(MPCM)=(MP+BM)(MPBM)=MP2BM2DP \cdot MP = PB \cdot PC = (BM + MP)(MP - CM) = (MP + BM)(MP - BM) = MP^2 - BM^2, as desired.

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