Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Thailand

PA and PB be the tangents to circle ω\omega from an external point PP. Let MM and NN be the midpoints of APAP and ABAB, respectively. Extend MNMN to meet ω\omega at CC, where NN is between MM and CC. PCPC meets ω\omega at DD and extend NDND to intersect PBPB at QQ. Show that MNQPMNQP is a rhombus.

Solution

Observe that ABNPAB \perp NP. Thus, MM is the circumcenter of ANP\triangle ANP and hence MN=MPMN = MP.

It can also be seen that MNPQMN \parallel PQ.

From the power of the point MM, PM2=MA2=MEMCPM^2 = MA^2 = ME \cdot MC.

So, PMME=MCPM\frac{PM}{ME} = \frac{MC}{PM} and hence PMECMP\triangle PME \sim \triangle CMP.

Thus, MP^E=MC^PM\hat{P}E = M\hat{C}P.

Since OO, AA, PP, BB are cyclic, the power of the point NN tells us that
CNNE=ANNB=ONNP. CN \cdot NE = AN \cdot NB = ON \cdot NP.
Thus, CC, PP, EE, OO are also cyclic and hence EP^N=NC^OE\hat{P}N = N\hat{C}O.

Since PANPOA\triangle PAN \sim \triangle POA, PAPN=POPA\frac{PA}{PN} = \frac{PO}{PA}. Thus,
PNPO=PA2=PDPC. PN \cdot PO = PA^2 = PD \cdot PC.
So, CC, DD, NN, OO are cyclic and hence QN^P=PC^OQ\hat{N}P = P\hat{C}O.

We can now see that
QN^P=PC^O=PC^M+MC^O=MP^E+EP^N=MP^N. Q\hat{N}P = P\hat{C}O = P\hat{C}M + M\hat{C}O = M\hat{P}E + E\hat{P}N = M\hat{P}N.
Thus, MPNQMP \parallel NQ. Therefore, MNQPMNQP is a rhombus.

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