Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /9 of 39

Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it Ireland

A line drawn from the vertex AA of an equilateral triangle ABCABC meets the side BCBC at DD and the circumcircle at PP. Show that
1PD=1PB+1PC \frac{1}{|PD|} = \frac{1}{|PB|} + \frac{1}{|PC|}

Solution

Because PAC=PBC\angle PAC = \angle PBC, APC=ABC=60\angle APC = \angle ABC = 60^\circ and BPA=BCA=60\angle BPA = \angle BCA = 60^\circ the triangles APCAPC and BPDBPD are similar. Thus PAPB=PCPD\frac{|PA|}{|PB|} = \frac{|PC|}{|PD|}, so
PAPD=PBPC(1) |PA| \cdot |PD| = |PB| \cdot |PC| \quad (1)
Figure 1
Since ABPCABPC is a cyclic quadrilateral, PABC=PBAC+PCAB|PA| \cdot |BC| = |PB| \cdot |AC| + |PC| \cdot |AB|. But the triangle ABCABC is equilateral so it follows that
PA=PB+PC(2) |PA| = |PB| + |PC| \quad (2)
From the two equations (1) and (2), it follows that
PBPC=PD(PB+PC). |PB| \cdot |PC| = |PD|(|PB| + |PC|).
Now dividing by the product PBPDPC|PB| \cdot |PD| \cdot |PC|, we get the desired equality
1PD=1PB+1PC \frac{1}{|PD|} = \frac{1}{|PB|} + \frac{1}{|PC|}

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.