Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2011

Geometry Difficulty 8.4 Shortlist Prove it IMO

Let ABCDEFA B C D E F be a convex hexagon all of whose sides are tangent to a circle ω\omega with center OO. Suppose that the circumcircle of triangle ACEA C E is concentric with ω\omega. Let JJ be the foot of the perpendicular from BB to CDC D. Suppose that the perpendicular from BB to DFD F intersects the line EOE O at a point KK. Let LL be the foot of the perpendicular from KK to DED E. Prove that DJ=DLD J=D L.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Since ω\omega and the circumcircle of triangle ACEA C E are concentric, the tangents from AA, CC, and EE to ω\omega have equal lengths; that means that AB=BC,CD=DEA B=B C, C D=D E, and EF=FAE F=F A. Moreover, we have BCD=DEF=FAB\angle B C D=\angle D E F=\angle F A B.

Figure 1

Consider the rotation around point DD mapping CC to EE; let BB^{\prime} and LL^{\prime} be the images of the points BB and JJ, respectively, under this rotation. Then one has DJ=DLD J=D L^{\prime} and BLDEB^{\prime} L^{\prime} \perp D E; moreover, the triangles BEDB^{\prime} E D and BCDB C D are congruent. Since DEO<90\angle D E O<90^{\circ}, the lines EOE O and BLB^{\prime} L^{\prime} intersect at some point KK^{\prime}. We intend to prove that KBDFK^{\prime} B \perp D F; this would imply K=KK=K^{\prime}, therefore L=LL=L^{\prime}, which proves the problem statement.

Analogously, consider the rotation around FF mapping AA to EE; let BB^{\prime \prime} be the image of BB under this rotation. Then the triangles FABF A B and FEBF E B^{\prime \prime} are congruent. We have EB=AB=BC=EBE B^{\prime \prime}=A B=B C= E B^{\prime} and FEB=FAB=BCD=DEB\angle F E B^{\prime \prime}=\angle F A B=\angle B C D=\angle D E B^{\prime}, so the points BB^{\prime} and BB^{\prime \prime} are symmetrical with respect to the angle bisector EOE O of DEF\angle D E F. So, from KBDEK^{\prime} B^{\prime} \perp D E we get KBEFK^{\prime} B^{\prime \prime} \perp E F.

From these two relations we obtain
KD2KE2=BD2BE2 and KE2KF2=BE2BF2. K^{\prime} D^{2}-K^{\prime} E^{2}=B^{\prime} D^{2}-B^{\prime} E^{2} \quad \text { and } \quad K^{\prime} E^{2}-K^{\prime} F^{2}=B^{\prime \prime} E^{2}-B^{\prime \prime} F^{2} .
Adding these equalities and taking into account that BE=BEB^{\prime} E=B^{\prime \prime} E we obtain
KD2KF2=BD2BF2=BD2BF2 K^{\prime} D^{2}-K^{\prime} F^{2}=B^{\prime} D^{2}-B^{\prime \prime} F^{2}=B D^{2}-B F^{2}
which means exactly that KBDFK^{\prime} B \perp D F.

Solution 2

Let us denote the points of tangency of AB,BC,CD,DE,EFA B, B C, C D, D E, E F, and FAF A to ω\omega by R,S,T,U,VR, S, T, U, V, and WW, respectively. As in the previous solution, we mention that AR=AW=CS=CT=EU=EVA R= A W=C S=C T=E U=E V.

The reflection in the line BOB O maps RR to SS, therefore AA to CC and thus also WW to TT. Hence, both lines RSR S and WTW T are perpendicular to OBO B, therefore they are parallel. On the other hand, the lines UVU V and WTW T are not parallel, since otherwise the hexagon ABCDEFA B C D E F is symmetric with respect to the line BOB O and the lines defining the point KK coincide, which contradicts the conditions of the problem. Therefore we can consider the intersection point ZZ of UVU V and WTW T.

Figure 2

Next, we recall a well-known fact that the points D,F,ZD, F, Z are collinear. Actually, DD is the pole of the line UT,FU T, F is the pole of VWV W, and Z=TWUVZ=T W \cap U V; so all these points belong to the polar line of TUVWT U \cap V W.

Now, we put OO into the origin, and identify each point (say XX ) with the vector OX\overrightarrow{O X}. So, from now on all the products of points refer to the scalar products of the corresponding vectors.

Since OKUZO K \perp U Z and OBTZO B \perp T Z, we have K(ZU)=0=B(ZT)K \cdot(Z-U)=0=B \cdot(Z-T). Next, the condition BKDZB K \perp D Z can be written as K(DZ)=B(DZ)K \cdot(D-Z)=B \cdot(D-Z). Adding these two equalities we get
K(DU)=B(DT) K \cdot(D-U)=B \cdot(D-T)
By symmetry, we have D(DU)=D(DT)D \cdot(D-U)=D \cdot(D-T). Subtracting this from the previous equation, we obtain (KD)(DU)=(BD)(DT)(K-D) \cdot(D-U)=(B-D) \cdot(D-T) and rewrite it in vector form as
DKUD=DBTD. \overrightarrow{D K} \cdot \overrightarrow{U D}=\overrightarrow{D B} \cdot \overrightarrow{T D} .
Finally, projecting the vectors DK\overrightarrow{D K} and DB\overrightarrow{D B} onto the lines UDU D and TDT D respectively, we can rewrite this equality in terms of segment lengths as DLUD=DJTDD L \cdot U D=D J \cdot T D, thus DL=DJD L=D J.

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