Let be an acute triangle, and let be the midpoint of the side . A circle through and meets the sides and again at and , respectively. The reflection of across the midpoint of the segment lies on the circle . Evaluate the ratio .
Solution
The required ratio equals . To prove this, let be the midpoint of the segment , and let be the reflection of across . Clearly, is a parallelogram, , and , so the triangles and are similar. Since and are corresponding medians in these triangles,
Next, and , so the triangles and are similar. Since and are corresponding medians in these triangles,
If does not lie on the segment , we may and will assume that and both lie on the same side of the line , since the configuration is symmetric in and . By (1) and (2), , so the triangles and are similar, whence ; that is, .


If lies on the segment , then (2) shows that , so and are pairs of parallel lines. Consequently, , so , and again .
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