Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Ukraine

Side BCBC of the parallelogram ABCDABCD is extended beyond the point CC and point KK is placed on the extension so that CDK\triangle CDK is isosceles triangle with base CKCK. Side DCDC is extended beyond the point CC and point LL is placed on the extension so that CBLCBL is isosceles triangle with base CLCL. Bisectors of angles LBC\angle LBC and CDK\angle CDK intersect at point QQ. Find radius of a circle circumscribed about triangle ALKALK, if BQD=α\angle BQD = \alpha and KL=aKL = a.

Answer: a2sin2α\frac{a}{2\sin 2\alpha}.

Solution

Since trapezium ABKDABKD is equilateral, points A,B,K,DA, B, K, D are on one circle. Thereafter, points B,L,D,AB, L, D, A reside on one circle too. Thus all the five points B,L,D,A,KB, L, D, A, K are on the same circle ww circumscribed about the triangle ALK\triangle ALK. Since trapeziums ABKDABKD and BLDABLDA share one of the diagonals, their diagonals have equal length. Therefore, AL=AKAL = AK and ALK\triangle ALK is isosceles.

As BQBQ is a bisector of the isosceles triangle LBC\triangle LBC (fig.7), BQLCBQ \perp LC and LCABLC \parallel AB. Therefore, BQABBQ \perp AB and QBA=90\angle QBA = 90^\circ, similarly QDA=90\angle QDA = 90^\circ. This implies that points Q,B,D,AQ, B, D, A are on one circle, and this circle is ww. As angles BQD\angle BQD and ALK\angle ALK rest upon chords of equal length: BD=AKBD = AK, ALK=α\angle ALK = \alpha and LAK=1802α\angle LAK = 180^\circ - 2\alpha. According to the law of sines, R=LK2sinLAK=a2sin2αR = \frac{LK}{2\sin \angle LAK} = \frac{a}{2\sin 2\alpha} for ALK\triangle ALK.

Figure 1
Fig.7

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