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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Let MM be the midpoint of side BCBC of an equilateral triangle ABCABC. The point DD is on CACA extended such that AA is between DD and CC. The point EE is on ABAB extended such that BB is between AA and EE, and MD=ME|MD| = |ME|. The point FF is the intersection of MDMD and ABAB. Prove that BFM=BME\angle BFM = \angle BME.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Let NN on ACAC extended be such that ENBCEN \parallel BC. Join MM to NN.

Figure 1

Triangles ABC\triangle ABC and AEN\triangle AEN are similar, hence AE=AN|AE| = |AN| and so BE=CN|BE| = |CN|. Alternatively, we may define NN to be the point on AGAG extended such that BE=CN|BE| = |CN| and CC is between AA and NN.

Since BM=CM|BM| = |CM|, BE=CN|BE| = |CN| and EBM=CGM=120\angle EBM = \angle CGM = 120^\circ, triangles MBE\triangle MBE and MGN\triangle MGN are congruent by SAS. This implies MN=ME=MD|MN| = |ME| = |MD|.

This means that MM is the centre of the circle through DD, EE and NN. The Central Angle Theorem implies now DME=2DNE=260=120\angle DME = 2 \cdot \angle DNE = 2 \cdot 60^\circ = 120^\circ.

Alternatively, we may observe that the congruence of MBE\triangle MBE and MGN\triangle MGN and the equality MN=MD|MN| = |MD| imply that AEM=ANM=ADM\angle AEM = \angle ANM = \angle ADM. This implies that the four points EE, MM, AA, DD are concyclic. Therefore, the two inscribed angles DME\angle DME and DAE=120\angle DAE = 120^\circ are equal. This can also be seen from AEM=ADM\angle AEM = \angle ADM by considering the two triangles DAF\triangle DAF and EMF\triangle EMF.

Triangles MFE\triangle MFE and BME\triangle BME are similar, because MBE=120=DME=FME\angle MBE = 120^\circ = \angle DME = \angle FME and both triangles share an angle at EE. Therefore, BFM=MFE=BME\angle BFM = \angle MFE = \angle BME.

Solution 2

First note that cos(θ)\cos(\theta) determines θ\theta if it is known that 0θπ0 \le \theta \le \pi. Also note that if n1n_1 and n2n_2 are unit vectors, then the angle between them is given by cos(θ)=n1n2\cos(\theta) = n_1 \cdot n_2. We solve the problem by calculating the relevant unit vectors and showing that a certain two dot products are the same.

We place AA at (3,0)(-\sqrt{3}, 0), BB at (0,1)(0, 1) and CC at (0,1)(0, -1) in a Cartesian coordinate system. Then MM is at (0,0)(0, 0). Now MD=MA+sCA=(3s3,s)\overrightarrow{MD} = \overrightarrow{MA} + s \cdot \overrightarrow{CA} = (-\sqrt{3} - s\sqrt{3}, s) for some s>0s > 0. Also ME=MB+tAB=(t3,t+1)\overrightarrow{ME} = \overrightarrow{MB} + t \cdot \overrightarrow{AB} = (t\sqrt{3}, t+1) for some t>0t > 0.

Figure 2

Since MD2=ME2|MD|^2 = |ME|^2, we get 3(s+1)2+s2=3t2+(t+1)23(s+1)^2 + s^2 = 3t^2 + (t+1)^2. That is 4s2+6s+3=4t2+2t+14s^2 + 6s + 3 = 4t^2 + 2t + 1. So (2s+32)2+34=(2t+12)2+34(2s + \frac{3}{2})^2 + \frac{3}{4} = (2t + \frac{1}{2})^2 + \frac{3}{4}. Since ss and tt are positive, we must have 2s+32=2t+122s + \frac{3}{2} = 2t + \frac{1}{2}. That is t=s+12t = s + \frac{1}{2}.

Now
cos(EMB)=MBMEMBME=(0,1)(t3,t+1)ME=t+1ME \cos(\angle EMB) = \frac{\overrightarrow{MB} \cdot \overrightarrow{ME}}{|MB| \cdot |ME|} = \frac{(0,1) \cdot (t\sqrt{3}, t+1)}{|ME|} = \frac{t+1}{|ME|}
Also
cos(MFE)=FBFMFBFM=ABDMABDM=(3,1)(3+s3,s)2MD=3+3ss2MD=2s+32MD \begin{aligned} \cos(\angle MFE) &= \frac{\overrightarrow{FB} \cdot \overrightarrow{FM}}{|FB| \cdot |FM|} = \frac{\overrightarrow{AB} \cdot \overrightarrow{DM}}{|AB| \cdot |DM|} \\ &= \frac{(\sqrt{3},1) \cdot (\sqrt{3}+s\sqrt{3},-s)}{2 \cdot |MD|} = \frac{3+3s-s}{2 \cdot |MD|} = \frac{2s+3}{2 \cdot |MD|} \end{aligned}
But ME=MD|ME| = |MD| and t+1=s+32=2s+32t+1 = s + \frac{3}{2} = \frac{2s+3}{2}, so cos(EMB)=cos(MFE)\cos(\angle EMB) = \cos(\angle MFE) and hence EMB=MFE\angle EMB = \angle MFE.

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