Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /1 of 16

Geometry Difficulty 5.0 AIME Prove it Romania

In triangle ABCABC, the bisector ADAD and the median BEBE meet at PP. The straight lines ABAB and CPCP meet at FF. The parallel through BB at CFCF meets the straight line DFDF at MM. Show that DM=BFDM = BF.

Gheorghe Bumbăcea

Solution

Ceva's Theorem implies
BFFAAEECCDDB=1, \frac{BF}{FA} \cdot \frac{AE}{EC} \cdot \frac{CD}{DB} = 1,
hence BFFA=BDDC\frac{BF}{FA} = \frac{BD}{DC}. The converse of Thales' Theorem yields DFACDF \parallel AC. From BFDBAC\triangle BFD \sim \triangle BAC follows BFBA=FDAC\frac{BF}{BA} = \frac{FD}{AC}, whence BF=ABACFDBF = \frac{AB}{AC} \cdot FD. Now BDMCDF\triangle BDM \sim \triangle CDF implies DMFD=BDDC\frac{DM}{FD} = \frac{BD}{DC}. On the other hand, BDBD being a bisector, BDDC=ABAC\frac{BD}{DC} = \frac{AB}{AC}, so DM=ABACFDDM = \frac{AB}{AC} \cdot FD. Finally, DM=BFDM = BF.

Figure 1

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.