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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

Let the circumcircle of triangle ABCABC be Γ\Gamma, and let the incenter be II. Let MM be the midpoint of side BCBC. Draw a perpendicular from II to BCBC, and let the foot of the perpendicular be DD. The line through II perpendicular to AIAI meets ABAB, ACAC at points FF, EE respectively. Let the second intersection point of the circumcircle of triangle AEFAEF with Γ\Gamma be XX. Prove that the intersection point of line XDXD and AMAM lies on Γ\Gamma.

Solution

Let AMAM meet Γ\Gamma again at point YY, and let XYXY meet BCBC at point DD'. By the same reasoning method, it suffices to prove that D=DD = D'; we first prove the following lemma.

Lemma. Let the two diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral PQRSPQRS meet at point TT, then
QTTS=PQQRPSSR. \frac{QT}{TS} = \frac{PQ \cdot QR}{PS \cdot SR}.

Proof of Lemma. Denote the (signed) area of triangle W1W2W3W_1W_2W_3 by [W1W2W3][W_1W_2W_3], then
QTTS=[PQR][PSR]=12PQQRsinPQR12PSSRsinPSR=PQQRPSSR \frac{QT}{TS} = \frac{[PQR]}{[PSR]} = \frac{\frac{1}{2}PQ \cdot QR \sin \angle PQR}{\frac{1}{2}PS \cdot SR \sin \angle PSR} = \frac{PQ \cdot QR}{PS \cdot SR}
(since PQR\angle PQR and PSR\angle PSR are supplementary). This proves the lemma.

Applying the above lemma to quadrilaterals ABYCABYC and XBYCXBYC respectively, we know
1=BMMC=ABBYACCYandBDDC=XBBYXCCY. 1 = \frac{BM}{MC} = \frac{AB \cdot BY}{AC \cdot CY} \quad \text{and} \quad \frac{BD'}{D'C} = \frac{XB \cdot BY}{XC \cdot CY}.
Combining these two equations, we get
BDDC=XBBYXCCY=XBACXCAB.(1) \frac{BD'}{D'C} = \frac{XB \cdot BY}{XC \cdot CY} = \frac{XB \cdot AC}{XC \cdot AB}. \quad (1)

Hence triangle XBFXBF is similar to XCEXCE, and we obtain
XBXC=BFCE.(2) \frac{XB}{XC} = \frac{BF}{CE}. \qquad (2)

Figure 1

Since FIB=AIB90=12ACB=ICB\angle FIB = \angle AIB - 90^\circ = \frac{1}{2} \angle ACB = \angle ICB and FBI=IBC\angle FBI = \angle IBC,
we get that triangle FBIFBI is similar to IBCIBC. Similarly, triangle EICEIC is also similar to IBCIBC. Hence
FBIB=BIBCandECIC=ICBC.(3) \frac{FB}{IB} = \frac{BI}{BC} \quad \text{and} \quad \frac{EC}{IC} = \frac{IC}{BC}. \qquad (3)

Now draw a line parallel to BCBC and tangent to the incircle, and let it meet sides ABAB and ACAC at points B1,C1B_1, C_1 respectively. Also let the incircle be tangent to sides AB,ACAB, AC at points B2,C2B_2, C_2 respectively. By the homothety, line B1IB_1I is parallel to the external angle bisector of ABC\angle ABC, so B1IB=90\angle B_1IB = 90^\circ. Also BB2I=90\angle BB_2I = 90^\circ, from which we know BB2BB1=BI2BB_2 \cdot BB_1 = BI^2. Similarly we know CC2CC1=CI2CC_2 \cdot CC_1 = CI^2. Therefore
BI2CI2=BB2BB1CC2CC1=BB1CC1BDCD=ABACBDCD.(4) \frac{BI^2}{CI^2} = \frac{BB_2 \cdot BB_1}{CC_2 \cdot CC_1} = \frac{BB_1}{CC_1} \cdot \frac{BD}{CD} = \frac{AB}{AC} \cdot \frac{BD}{CD}. \quad (4)

Combining Eq. (1), Eq. (2), Eq. (3) and Eq. (4), we get
BDCD=XBXCACAB=BFCEACAB=BI2CI2ACAB=BDCD, \frac{BD'}{CD'} = \frac{XB}{XC} \cdot \frac{AC}{AB} = \frac{BF}{CE} \cdot \frac{AC}{AB} = \frac{BI^2}{CI^2} \cdot \frac{AC}{AB} = \frac{BD}{CD},

hence D=DD = D'. This completes the proof.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.