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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it South Korea

Let PP be a point on the side BCBC of an acute triangle ABCABC. Let HH be the orthocenter of ABC\triangle ABC and DD be the foot of the perpendicular from HH to APAP. Let Γ1,Γ2\Gamma_1, \Gamma_2 be the circumcircles of ABD,ACD\triangle ABD, \triangle ACD, respectively. Let ll be the line parallel to BCBC and passing through DD. ll intersects Γ1\Gamma_1 and Γ2\Gamma_2 at XX and YY, different from DD, respectively. ll intersects ABAB and ACAC at EE and FF, respectively. Two lines XBXB and YCYC meet at ZZ. Show that BP=CPBP = CP if and only if ZE=ZFZE = ZF.

Solution

Observation 1. AA, BB, CC, ZZ are cyclic.
BAD=BXD=ZBC and DAC=DYC=BCZ. \angle BAD = \angle BXD = \angle ZBC \text{ and } \angle DAC = \angle DYC = \angle BCZ.
Hence BAC=BAD+BCZ=180BZC\angle BAC = \angle BAD + \angle BCZ = 180^\circ - \angle BZC, that is, BAC+BZC=180\angle BAC + \angle BZC = 180^\circ.

Observation 2. Both AA, EE, ZZ, YY and AA, XX, ZZ, FF are cyclic.
By Observation 1, we have
AEY=ABC=AZC=AZY. \angle AEY = \angle ABC = \angle AZC = \angle AZY.
Similarly, AFX=AZX\angle AFX = \angle AZX.

Lemma 1. ZE=ZFZE = ZF if and only if BDCD=ABAC\frac{BD}{CD} = \frac{AB}{AC}.

*Proof.* We can easily see that AEZ\triangle AEZ is similar to ADC\triangle ADC, and symmetrically, AFZ\triangle AFZ is similar to ADB\triangle ADB. Then we have
ZE=AECDADandZF=AFBDAD. ZE = \frac{AE \cdot CD}{AD} \quad \text{and} \quad ZF = \frac{AF \cdot BD}{AD}.
Therefore, we have ZE=ZFBDCD=AEAF=ABACZE = ZF \Leftrightarrow \frac{BD}{CD} = \frac{AE}{AF} = \frac{AB}{AC}.

Now let QQ, RR, SS be the feet of perpendiculars from AA, BB, CC to BCBC, CACA, ABAB, respectively. Then AA, SS, DD, HH, FF are cyclic. Since ADAP=AHAQ=ASABAD \cdot AP = AH \cdot AQ = AS \cdot AB, SS, DD, PP, BB are cyclic.
Similarly, RR, DD, PP, CC are cyclic.
Since AS:AP=AD:ABAS : AP = AD : AB, ASP\triangle ASP is similar to ADB\triangle ADB.
Now we have
(1)PS=BDAPAB,RP=CDAPAC. (1) \qquad PS = BD \frac{AP}{AB}, \quad RP = CD \frac{AP}{AC}.

Lemma 2. Let PP be a point on BCBC. Then
BP=PCPR=PS. BP = PC \Leftrightarrow PR = PS.
*Proof.* Suppose PP is a midpoint of BCBC. Then PP, QQ, RR, SS are on the nine-point circle, so we have
PSR=RQC=A=SQB=PRS. \angle PSR = \angle RQC = \angle A = \angle SQB = \angle PRS.
That is, PR=PSPR = PS. Hence PP is the intersection of the perpendicular bisector of SRSR and BCBC, so it is unique. Thus PR=PSPR = PS implies that PP is a midpoint of BCBC. \square

Now we are ready to prove that BP=PCZE=ZFBP = PC \Leftrightarrow ZE = ZF.

Suppose BP=PCBP = PC, then by Lemma 2, PR=PSPR = PS. Then by (1), we have BDCD=ABAC\frac{BD}{CD} = \frac{AB}{AC}. Then by Lemma 1, ZE=ZFZE = ZF.

Conversely, assume that ZE=ZFZE = ZF, then by Lemma 1, BDCD=ABAC\frac{BD}{CD} = \frac{AB}{AC}. Then by (1), we have PS=PRPS = PR. By Lemma 2, BP=PCBP = PC. \square

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