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Geometry Difficulty 7.0 National Olympiad Prove it Iran

In triangle ABCABC let IaI_a be the AA-excenter. Let ω\omega be an arbitrary circle that passes through AA and IaI_a and intersects the extensions of sides ABAB and ACAC (extended from BB and CC) at XX and YY, respectively. Let SS and TT be points on segments IaBI_aB and IaCI_aC, respectively, such that AXIa^=BTIa^\widehat{AXI_a} = \widehat{BTI_a} and AYIa^=CSIa^\widehat{AYI_a} = \widehat{CSI_a}. Suppose that lines BTBT and CSCS intersect at KK, and lines KIaKI_a and TSTS intersect at ZZ. Prove that X,Y,ZX, Y, Z are collinear.

Solution

Clearly, MM is a point on BCBC, since IaBI_a B is angle bisector of both angles XBM\overline{XBM} and XBC\overline{XBC}. Note that
IaMC=180IaMB=180IaXA=CYIa. \overline{I_a MC} = 180^\circ - \overline{I_a MB} = 180^\circ - \overline{I_a XA} = \overline{CYI_a}.
And since IaCM=IaCY\overline{I_a CM} = \overline{I_a CY}, we get CYIaCMIaCYI_a \equiv CMI_a. Therefore MM is also the reflection of YY over IaCI_a C. For quadrilateral KSIaTKSI_a T we have
KSIa+KTIa=AYIa+AXIa=180. \overline{KSI_a} + \overline{KTI_a} = \overline{AYI_a} + \overline{AXI_a} = 180^\circ.
Therefore, KSIaTKSI_a T is cyclic. Now since BMIa=BXIa=BTIa\overline{BMI_a} = \overline{BXI_a} = \overline{BTI_a}, we get BMTIa\overline{BMTI_a} and similarly, CMSIa\overline{CMSI_a} are cyclic. This means MM is the Miquel point of the complete quadrilateral KSIaTKSI_a T.

Figure 1

Let ω1\omega_1 and ω2\omega_2 be the circumcircles of triangles CSIaCSI_a and BTIaBTI_a, respectively. The point MM has the same Simson line with respect to each of these two triangles, and since XX and YY are the reflections of MM in IaBI_aB and IaCI_aC, respectively, line XYXY is homothetic with the Simson line of MM, with center MM and radius 2. So the problem is to prove that the Simson line of MM with respect to ω1\omega_1 and ω2\omega_2 passes through the midpoint of MZMZ.

It is well-known that the Simson line of any point PP lying on the circumcircle of some triangle QRUQRU, passes through the midpoint of PHPH where HH is the orthocenter of QRUQRU. So according to this fact, the Simson line of MM passes through the midpoint of MH1MH_1 and MH2MH_2 where H1H_1 and H2H_2 are orthocenters of triangles BTIaBTI_a and CSIaCSI_a, respectively. Now, it is sufficient to show that ZZ lies on H1H2H_1H_2. Consider two circles Γ\Gamma and Ω\Omega with diameters STST and KIaKI_a, respectively. Let TT' be the foot of the perpendicular line from TT to BIaBI_a. We know that TΓT' \in \Gamma. Also let IaI'_a be the foot of the perpendicular line from IaI_a to BTBT. Similarly IaΩI'_a \in \Omega. Note that ZZ is a point on the radical axis of Γ\Gamma and Ω\Omega, and since IaIaTT=H1I_aI'_a \cap TT' = H_1, we get PΓ(H1)=H1TH1T=HIaHIa=PΩ(H1)\mathcal{P}_{\Gamma}(H_1) = H_1T \cdot H_1T' = HI_a \cdot HI'_a = \mathcal{P}_{\Omega}(H_1), where Pλ(Q)\mathcal{P}_{\lambda}(Q) is the power of point QQ with respect to circle λ\lambda. Therefore H1H_1 and similarly H2H_2 lie on the radical axis of Γ\Gamma and Ω\Omega. So the line passing through ZZ, H1H_1 and H2H_2, is the radical axis of Γ\Gamma and Ω\Omega and hence the claim of the problem. ■

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