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Geometry Difficulty 8.7 Shortlist Prove it IMO

Let ABCA B C be an acute triangle, and let MM be the midpoint of ACA C. A circle ω\omega passing through BB and MM meets the sides ABA B and BCB C again at PP and QQ, respectively. Let TT be the point such that the quadrilateral BPTQB P T Q is a parallelogram. Suppose that TT lies on the circumcircle of the triangle ABCA B C. Determine all possible values of BT/BMB T / B M.

Solutions — 3

Solution 1

Let SS be the center of the parallelogram BPTQB P T Q, and let BBB' \neq B be the point on the ray BMB M such that BM=MBB M = M B' (see Figure 1).
It follows that ABCBA B C B' is a parallelogram. Then, ABB=PQM\angle A B B' = \angle P Q M and BBA=BBC=MPQ\angle B B' A = \angle B' B C = \angle M P Q, and so the triangles ABBA B B' and MQPM Q P are similar. It follows that AMA M and MSM S are corresponding medians in these triangles. Hence,
SMP=BAM=BCA=BTA. \angle S M P = \angle B' A M = \angle B C A = \angle B T A .
Since ACT=PBT\angle A C T = \angle P B T and TAC=TBC=BTP\angle T A C = \angle T B C = \angle B T P, the triangles TCAT C A and PBTP B T are similar. Again, as TMT M and PSP S are corresponding medians in these triangles, we have
MTA=TPS=BQP=BMP. \angle M T A = \angle T P S = \angle B Q P = \angle B M P .
Now we deal separately with two cases.

Case 1. SS does not lie on BMB M. Since the configuration is symmetric between AA and CC, we may assume that SS and AA lie on the same side with respect to the line BMB M.
Applying the previous results, we get
BMS=BMPSMP=MTABTA=MTB, \angle B M S = \angle B M P - \angle S M P = \angle M T A - \angle B T A = \angle M T B,
and so the triangles BSMB S M and BMTB M T are similar. We now have BM2=BSBT=BT2/2B M^2 = B S \cdot B T = B T^2 / 2, so BT=2BMB T = \sqrt{2} B M.

Case 2. SS lies on BMB M. It follows from the previous results that BCA=MTA=BQP=BMP\angle B C A = \angle M T A = \angle B Q P = \angle B M P (see Figure 2). Thus, PQACP Q \parallel A C and PMATP M \parallel A T. Hence, BS/BM=BP/BA=BM/BTB S / B M = B P / B A = B M / B T, so BT2=2BM2B T^2 = 2 B M^2 and BT=2BMB T = \sqrt{2} B M.

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 2

Solution 2

Again, we denote by Ω\Omega the circumcircle of the triangle ABCA B C.
Choose the points XX and YY on the rays BAB A and BCB C respectively, so that MXB=MBC\angle M X B = \angle M B C and BYM=ABM\angle B Y M = \angle A B M (see Figure 4). Then the triangles BMXB M X and YMBY M B are similar. Since XPM=BQM\angle X P M = \angle B Q M, the points PP and QQ correspond to each other in these triangles. So, if BP=μBX\overrightarrow{B P} = \mu \cdot \overrightarrow{B X}, then BQ=(1μ)BY\overrightarrow{B Q} = (1-\mu) \cdot \overrightarrow{B Y}. Thus
BT=BP+BQ=BY+μ(BXBY)=BY+μYX, \overrightarrow{B T} = \overrightarrow{B P} + \overrightarrow{B Q} = \overrightarrow{B Y} + \mu \cdot (\overrightarrow{B X} - \overrightarrow{B Y}) = \overrightarrow{B Y} + \mu \cdot \overrightarrow{Y X},
which means that TT lies on the line XYX Y.
Let BBB' \neq B be the point on the ray BMB M such that BM=MBB M = M B'. Then MBA=MBC=MXB\angle M B' A = \angle M B C = \angle M X B and CBM=ABM=BYM\angle C B' M = \angle A B M = \angle B Y M. This means that the triangles BMXB M X, BABB A B', YMBY M B, and BCBB' C B are all similar; hence BABX=BMBB=BCBYB A \cdot B X = B M \cdot B B' = B C \cdot B Y. Thus there exists an inversion centered at BB which swaps AA with XX, MM with BB', and CC with YY. This inversion then swaps Ω\Omega with the line XYX Y, and hence it preserves TT. Therefore, we have BT2=BMBB=2BM2B T^2 = B M \cdot B B' = 2 B M^2, and BT=2BMB T = \sqrt{2} B M.

Figure 3
Figure 4

Solution 3

We begin with the following lemma.

Lemma. Let ABCTA B C T be a cyclic quadrilateral. Let PP and QQ be points on the sides BAB A and BCB C respectively, such that BPTQB P T Q is a parallelogram. Then BPBA+BQBC=BT2B P \cdot B A + B Q \cdot B C = B T^2.

Proof. Let the circumcircle of the triangle QTCQ T C meet the line BTB T again at JJ (see Figure 5). The power of BB with respect to this circle yields
BQBC=BJBT. B Q \cdot B C = B J \cdot B T.
We also have TJQ=180QCT=TAB\angle T J Q = 180^{\circ} - \angle Q C T = \angle T A B and QTJ=ABT\angle Q T J = \angle A B T, and so the triangles TJQT J Q and BATB A T are similar. We now have TJ/TQ=BA/BTT J / T Q = B A / B T. Therefore,
TJBT=TQBA=BPBA. T J \cdot B T = T Q \cdot B A = B P \cdot B A.
Combining the above, we get the desired result. \square

Let XX and YY be the midpoints of BAB A and BCB C respectively (see Figure 6). Applying the lemma to the cyclic quadrilaterals PBQMP B Q M and ABCTA B C T, we obtain
BXBP+BYBQ=BM2 B X \cdot B P + B Y \cdot B Q = B M^2
and
BPBA+BQBC=BT2. B P \cdot B A + B Q \cdot B C = B T^2.
Since BA=2BXB A = 2 B X and BC=2BYB C = 2 B Y, we have BT2=2BM2B T^2 = 2 B M^2, and so BT=2BMB T = \sqrt{2} B M.

Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 5
Figure 6

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