Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.1 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Let PP and QQ be the midpoints of the sides BCBC and CDCD, respectively, of a rectangle ABCDABCD. Let KK and MM be the points of intersection of the line PDPD with QBQB and QAQA, respectively, and let NN be the point of intersection of the lines PAPA and QBQB.
Let X,Y,ZX, Y, Z be the midpoints of the line segments AN,KN,AMAN, KN, AM, respectively. Let 1\ell_{1} be the line passing through XX and perpendicular to MKMK, 2\ell_{2} be the line passing through YY and perpendicular to AMAM, 3\ell_{3} be the line passing through ZZ and perpendicular to KNKN. Show that 1,2,3\ell_{1}, \ell_{2}, \ell_{3} are concurrent.

Solution

Solution:
Let RR be the midpoint of the side ADAD. Then the lines BRBR and PDPD are parallel. Since MAN=QAP=QBR=QKM\angle MAN = \angle QAP = \angle QBR = \angle QKM, the points A,N,K,MA, N, K, M are concyclic.

Figure 1

Let 4\ell_{4} be the line passing through the midpoint WW of the line segment MKMK and perpendicular to the line ANAN. Let E1E_{1} be the point of intersection of 1\ell_{1} and 4\ell_{4}, and E2E_{2} be the point of intersection of 2\ell_{2} and 3\ell_{3}. We will show that the points E1E_{1} and E2E_{2} coincide.

Let OO be the circumcenter of the cyclic quadrilateral ANKMANKM. OWOW is perpendicular to the side MKMK and OXOX is perpendicular to the side ANAN. Hence OWOW is parallel to 1\ell_{1}, OXOX is parallel to 4\ell_{4}, and XOWE1XOWE_{1} is a parallelogram. Therefore the midpoints of the line segments OE1OE_{1} and WXWX coincide. Similarly, the midpoints of the line segments OE2OE_{2} and YZYZ coincide.

On the other hand, as X,Y,Z,WX, Y, Z, W are midpoints of the sides of the quadrilateral ANKMANKM, XYWZXYWZ is a parallelogram and therefore the midpoints of the line segments WXWX and YZYZ coincide. Hence the midpoints of the line segments OE1OE_{1} and OE2OE_{2} coincide. In other words, E1E_{1} and E2E_{2} are the same point, and the lines 1,2,3\ell_{1}, \ell_{2}, \ell_{3} are concurrent.

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