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Belarusian Mathematical Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Belarus

The diagonals of the inscribed quadrilateral ABCDABCD intersect at the point OO. The points PP, QQ, RR and SS are the feet of the perpendiculars from OO to the sides ABAB, BCBC, CDCD and DADA respectively.
Prove the inequality BD≥SP+QRBD \ge SP + QR.

Solution

First we prove that the quadrilateral SPQRSPQR is circumscribed and OO is the center of its incircle. The quadrilaterals APOSAPOS and BPOQBPOQ are cyclic since they have pairs of right angles, based on AOAO and BOBO, respectively. In these circles ∠OPS=∠OAS\angle OPS = \angle OAS and ∠OPQ=∠OBQ\angle OPQ = \angle OBQ. Wherein ∠OAS=∠OBQ\angle OAS = \angle OBQ in the circumcircle of ABCDABCD. Therefore, ∠OPS=∠OPQ\angle OPS = \angle OPQ and OPOP is the bisector of the angle SPQSPQ. Similarly, OQOQ, OROR and OSOS are the bisectors of angles PQRPQR, QRSQRS and RSPRSP, respectively. Hence point OO is equidistant from the sides of the quadrilateral SPQRSPQR, i.e. SPQRSPQR is circumscribed and OO is its incenter.

Since SPQRSPQR is circumscribed, SP+QR=PQ+SRSP + QR = PQ + SR, hence it is enough to prove the inequality BD≥PQ+SRBD \ge PQ + SR. The segments BOBO and DODO are the diameters of the circumcircles of the quadrilaterals BPOQBPOQ and DSORDSOR, respectively. Therefore, BO≥PQBO \ge PQ and DO≥SRDO \ge SR. Summing up these inequalities, we obtain the desired inequality.

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