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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Let ABCABC be a triangle with ACBC|AC| \neq |BC|. Let PP and QQ be the intersection points of the line ABAB with the internal and external angle bisectors at CC, so that PP is between AA and BB. Prove that if MM is any point on the circle with diameter PQPQ, then AMP=BMP\angle AMP = \angle BMP.

Solution

The internal and external angle bisectors divide the segment ABAB internally and externally in the same ratio AC:BC|AC| : |BC|. This can be seen, for example, with the aid of the Sine Rule, applied to the triangles ACPACP and BCPBCP for the internal bisector and to the triangles ACQACQ and BCQBCQ for the external angle bisector. In particular, we obtain
APBP=AQBQ. \frac{|AP|}{|BP|} = \frac{|AQ|}{|BQ|}.
Figure 1

Let XX and YY be points on the line AMAM such that BXMQBX \parallel MQ and BYMPBY \parallel MP.
Figure 2
As BXMQBX \parallel MQ, we have AM/XM=AQ/BQ|AM|/|XM| = |AQ|/|BQ| and as BYMPBY \parallel MP, we have AM/YM=AP/BP|AM|/|YM| = |AP|/|BP|. This implies AM/XM=AM/YM|AM|/|XM| = |AM|/|YM|, hence XM=YM|XM| = |YM|.
Because MM is on the circle with diameter PQPQ, PMQ=90\angle PMQ = 90^\circ and so also YBX=90\angle YBX = 90^\circ. Therefore, BB is on the circle with diameter XYXY. As MM was shown to be the midpoint of XYXY, we obtain MB=XM=YMMB = XM = YM. This implies now
APBP=AMBM \frac{|AP|}{|BP|} = \frac{|AM|}{|BM|}
If PP' is the intersection point of the angle bisector of AMB\angle AMB and ABAB, then
APBP=AMBM=APBP \frac{|AP'|}{|BP'|} = \frac{|AM|}{|BM|} = \frac{|AP|}{|BP|}
This implies that P=PP = P', and so MPMP is the angle bisector of AMB\angle AMB.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.