Points X and Y are marked on the sides AB and AD of the convex quadrilateral ABCD respectively. Find AX:BX if CX∥DA, DX∥CB, BY∥CD, CY∥BA.
Solution
Answer: (5+1)/2. Let λ=AX:BX be the required ratio. On one hand, by Thales' theorem λ=BXAX=RBYR==[YR=CD, since CDYR is a parallelogram]==RBCD.(1) On the other hand, λ=BXAX=[AX=CY, since CYAX is a parallelogram]=BXCY==[BX=CP, since CPXB is a parallelogram]=CPCY==[Thales’ theorem for ∠CYB,PQ∥BC]=BQBY==[BQ=CD, since BCDQ is a parallelogram]=CDBY=CDYR+BR==[YR=CD, since RCDY is a parallelogram]=CDCD+BR==11+BR/CD=[see (1)]=1+λ1. So, λ=1+λ1 or λ2−λ−1=0. From this quadratic equation, taking into account that λ>0, we obtain λ=(5+1)/2.
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 reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.