Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2008

Geometry Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

Let ABC\triangle ABC be an isosceles triangle with the apex at BB and choose a point DD on the altitude from BB such that ACAC is tangent to the circumcircle K\mathcal{K} of the triangle ABDABD. Let EE be a point on K\mathcal{K} such that the chord DEDE is perpendicular to the chord ABAB. Prove that triangles ABEABE and ABCABC are congruent.

Solution

Let TT be the intersection of the chords DEDE and ABAB. We know that DTBDTB is a right triangle. Let CAB=ACB=α\angle CAB = \angle ACB = \alpha. The line ACAC is tangent to the circumcircle, so the angle CAB\angle CAB is equal to the corresponding angle AEB\angle AEB over the chord ABAB. Thus, AEB=α\angle AEB = \alpha.

We have ABD=π2α\angle ABD = \frac{\pi}{2} - \alpha, so TDB=α\angle TDB = \alpha and EDB=α\angle EDB = \alpha. This angle is equal to EAB\angle EAB because they are both the inscribed angles over BEBE. So, BAE=α=BEA\angle BAE = \alpha = \angle BEA and the triangle ABEABE is isosceles with the apex at BB. Triangles ABEABE and ABCABC have congruent angles and a common side ABAB next to the corresponding two angles, so they are congruent.

Figure 1

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