Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Let ABCDABCD be a parallelogram and let OO be the intersection point of the diagonals. Prove that for any point M(AB)M \in (AB), there exist unique points N(OC)N \in (OC) and P(OD)P \in (OD) such that OO is the centroid of triangle MNPMNP.
Nelu Chichirim

Solution

A point M(AB)M \in (AB) is uniquely determined by a real number k(0,)k \in (0, \infty) such that AM=k\overline{AM} = k, from which we get
OM=1k+1OA+kk+1OB. \overrightarrow{OM} = \frac{1}{k+1}\overrightarrow{OA} + \frac{k}{k+1}\overrightarrow{OB}.
To find the points NN and PP uniquely, we need to find x,y(0,)x, y \in (0, \infty) such that ON=x,OP=y\overrightarrow{ON} = x, \overrightarrow{OP} = y, and OO is the centroid of triangle MNPMNP. From this, we have:
ON=xx+1OC=xx+1OAandOP=yy+1OD=yy+1OB. \overrightarrow{ON} = \frac{x}{x+1}\overrightarrow{OC} = -\frac{x}{x+1}\overrightarrow{OA} \quad \text{and} \quad \overrightarrow{OP} = \frac{y}{y+1}\overrightarrow{OD} = -\frac{y}{y+1}\overrightarrow{OB}.
Since OA\overrightarrow{OA} and OB\overrightarrow{OB} are not collinear, OO is the centroid of triangle MNPMNP if and only if xx+1=1k+1x=1k\frac{x}{x+1} = \frac{1}{k+1} \Leftrightarrow x = \frac{1}{k} and yy+1=kk+1y=k\frac{y}{y+1} = \frac{k}{k+1} \Leftrightarrow y = k, meaning that point NN is uniquely determined by the ratio x=1k=ONNCx = \frac{1}{k} = \frac{ON}{NC}, and point PP is uniquely determined by the ratio y=k=OPPDy = k = \frac{OP}{PD}, which completes the problem.

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