Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it India

Problem:
Let ABCABC be an acute-angled triangle with altitude AKAK. Let HH be its orthocentre and OO be its circumcentre. Suppose KOHKOH is an acute-angled triangle and PP its circumcentre. Let QQ be the reflection of PP in the line HOHO. Show that QQ lies on the line joining the mid-points of ABAB and ACAC.

Solution

Solution:
Let DD be the mid-point of BCBC; MM that of HKHK; and TT that of OHOH. Then PMPM is perpendicular to HKHK and PTPT is perpendicular to OHOH. Since QQ is the reflection of PP in HOHO, we observe that P,T,QP, T, Q are collinear, and PT=TQPT = TQ. Let QLQL, TNTN and OSOS be the perpendiculars drawn respectively from QQ, TT and OO onto the altitude AKAK. (See the figure.)

Figure 1

We have LN=NMLN = NM, since TT is the mid-point of QPQP; HN=NSHN = NS, since TT is the mid-point of OHOH; and HM=MKHM = MK, as PP is the circumcentre of KHOKHO. We obtain
LH+HN=LN=NM=NS+SM LH + HN = LN = NM = NS + SM
which gives LH=SMLH = SM. We know that AH=2ODAH = 2OD. Thus
AL=AHLH=2ODLH=2SKSM=SK+(SKSM)=SK+MK=SK+HM=SK+HS+SM=SK+HS+LH=SK+LS=LK \begin{aligned} AL = AH & - LH = 2OD - LH = 2SK - SM = SK + (SK - SM) = SK + MK \\ & = SK + HM = SK + HS + SM = SK + HS + LH = SK + LS = LK \end{aligned}
This shows that LL is the mid-point of AKAK and hence lies on the line joining the mid-points of ABAB and ACAC. We observe that the line joining the mid-points of ABAB and ACAC is also perpendicular to AKAK. Since QLQL is perpendicular to AKAK, we conclude that QQ also lies on the line joining the mid-points of ABAB and ACAC.

Remark: It may happen that HH is above LL as in the adjoining figure, but the result remains true here as well. We have HN=NSHN = NS, LN=NMLN = NM, and HM=MKHM = MK as earlier. Thus HN=HL+LNHN = HL + LN and NS=SM+NMNS = SM + NM give HL=SMHL = SM. Now AL=AH+HL=2OD+SM=2SK+SM=SK+(SK+SM)=SK+MK=SK+HM=SK+HL+LM=SK+SM+LM=LKAL = AH + HL = 2OD + SM = 2SK + SM = SK + (SK + SM) = SK + MK = SK + HM = SK + HL + LM = SK + SM + LM = LK. The conclusion that QQ lies on the line joining the mid-points of ABAB and ACAC follows as earlier.

Figure 2

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