Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /13 of 31

Geometry Difficulty 6.5 National Olympiad Prove it Italy

Problem:

Let ABCDEFGHILMNA B C D E F G H I L M N be a regular dodecagon. Let PP be the point of intersection of the diagonals AFA F and DHD H. Let SS be the circle passing through AA and HH, congruent to the one circumscribed about the dodecagon and distinct from it. Prove that:
(a) PP belongs to SS;
(b) the center of SS belongs to the diagonal HNH N;
(c) the length of PEP E is equal to the side of the dodecagon.

Solution

Solution:

Let TT be the circle circumscribed about the dodecagon, and let OO be its center; let OSO_{S} be the center of the circle SS and let QQ be the midpoint of AHA H. The points OO and OSO_{S} lie on the perpendicular bisector of AHA H and, having the same distance from AA and HH, are symmetric with respect to AHA H, and also symmetric with respect to QQ. Since AA and GG are opposite vertices of the dodecagon, AGA G is a diameter of TT; it follows that OO is also the midpoint of the diagonal AGA G and that AH^G=90A \widehat{H} G=90^{\circ}. By the similarity of triangles AQOA Q O and AHGA H G (two right triangles sharing an acute angle), we have QO=12HGQ O=\frac{1}{2} H G and hence OSO=2QO=HGO_{S} O=2 Q O=H G.

Figure 1

The circle SS is thus the translate of TT by a length equal to the side HGH G, in the direction GH\overrightarrow{G H}.

(b): By the regularity of the dodecagon, HL=NLH L=N L and GL=ALG L=A L and therefore the lines HNH N and AGA G, both perpendicular to the radius LOL O of TT, are parallel. But then HNH N is the translate of AGA G with respect to the vector GH\overrightarrow{G H}, and therefore the center of SS lies on HNH N.

(a) and (c): By what was observed before, if we show that PP is the translate of EE in the direction GH\overrightarrow{G H}, we simultaneously prove (a) and (c). Equivalently, we show that EE is the translate of PP in the direction HG\overrightarrow{H G}. The translate of PP in the direction HG\overrightarrow{H G} is the intersection of the translates, in the same direction, of AFA F and BDB D. But with the same argument used to prove (b) one shows that the translates of AFA F and DHD H in the direction HG\overrightarrow{H G} are the diagonals BEB E and GEG E, which intersect at EE.

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 translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.