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Geometry Difficulty 7.5 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Romania

Let ABC\triangle ABC be an acute triangle, and let MM be the midpoint of the side ACAC. A circle through BB and MM meets the sides ABAB and BCBC again at PP and QQ, respectively. The reflection TT of BB across the midpoint of the segment PQPQ lies on the circle ABCABC. Evaluate the ratio BT/BMBT/BM.

Solution

The required ratio equals 2\sqrt{2}. To prove this, let SS be the midpoint of the segment PQPQ, and let BB' be the reflection of BB across MM. Clearly, ABCBABCB' is a parallelogram, ABB=PQM\angle ABB' = \angle PQM, and BBA=BBC=MPQ\angle BB'A = \angle B'BC = \angle MPQ, so the triangles ABBABB' and MQPMQP are similar. Since AMAM and MSMS are corresponding medians in these triangles,
SMP=BAM=BCA=BTA.(1) \angle SMP = \angle B'AM = \angle BCA = \angle BTA. \qquad (1)
Next, ACT=PBT\angle ACT = \angle PBT and TAC=TBC=BTP\angle TAC = \angle TBC = \angle BTP, so the triangles TCATCA and PBTPBT are similar. Since TMTM and PSPS are corresponding medians in these triangles,
MTA=TPS=BQP=BMP.(2) \angle MTA = \angle TPS = \angle BQP = \angle BMP. \qquad (2)
If SS does not lie on the segment BMBM, we may and will assume that SS and AA both lie on the same side of the line BMBM, since the configuration is symmetric in AA and CC. By (1) and (2), BMS=BMPSMP=MTABTA=MTB\angle BMS = \angle BMP - \angle SMP = \angle MTA - \angle BTA = \angle MTB, so the triangles BSMBSM and BMTBMT are similar, whence BM2=BSBT=BT2/2BM^2 = BS \cdot BT = BT^2/2; that is, BT/BM=2BT/BM = \sqrt{2}.

Figure 1

Figure 2

If SS lies on the segment BMBM, then (2) shows that BCA=MTA=BMP=BQP\angle BCA = \angle MTA = \angle BMP = \angle BQP, so (PQ,AC)(PQ, AC) and (PM,AT)(PM, AT) are pairs of parallel lines. Consequently, BS/BM=BP/BA=BM/BTBS/BM = BP/BA = BM/BT, so BT2=2BM2BT^2 = 2BM^2, and again BT/BM=2BT/BM = \sqrt{2}.

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