Let be an acute-angled triangle. Let point be the reflection of across the line , and point the reflection of across the line . Circles circumscribed to triangles and intersect at points and . Prove that the circumcentre of triangle lies on the line . (Russia 2005)
Solution
Denote , and , and let be the circumcentre of triangle .
Point is on the circle circumscribed to triangle , so since they are subtended by . Because of the reflection, we have .
Analogously, by observing the circle circumscribed to triangle , we can conclude
Therefore, .
Since is a cyclic quadrilateral, we have
Therefore, , so points , and are collinear.
Let be the point diametrically opposite point on the circle circumscribed to triangle . Since is the bisector of segment , point lies on line . Therefore, . By Thales' theorem we have , so
Therefore, and , i.e. .
On the other hand, and , so we can conclude that , and lie on the same line. This completes the proof.
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.