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Mathematical competitions in Croatia

Geometry Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Croatia

A triangle ABCABC is given, with altitudes ADAD, BEBE and CFCF, and orthocentre HH. The segments EFEF and ADAD intersect at point GG. The segment AKAK is the diameter of the circumcircle of triangle ABCABC and it intersects BCBC at point MM. Prove that the lines GMGM and HKHK are parallel. (Go Geometry)

Solution

Figure 1
Since BFCBFC is a right-angled triangle, we have ∠BCF=90∘−β\angle BCF = 90^\circ - \beta. As CDHCDH is also a right-angled triangle, we get ∠DHC=β\angle DHC = \beta.
It follows that ∠AHF=β\angle AHF = \beta (because the angles ∠DHC\angle DHC and ∠AHF\angle AHF are vertically opposite).
As ABKCABKC is a cyclic quadrilateral, inscribed angles which subtend AC‾\overline{AC} are equal to ∠AKC=∠ABC=β\angle AKC = \angle ABC = \beta. We have that ∠ACK\angle ACK is a right angle because it subtends
the diameter AK‾\overline{AK} (using Thales' theorem). We now infer that the triangles AFHAFH and ACKACK are similar (because we know that ∠AFH\angle AFH and ∠ACK\angle ACK are right angles, whereas ∠AKC=∠AHF=β\angle AKC = \angle AHF = \beta). From this similarity, we get
∣AF∣∣AH∣=∣AC∣∣AK∣.(4) \frac{|AF|}{|AH|} = \frac{|AC|}{|AK|}. \qquad (4)
We also know that AFHEAFHE is a cyclic quadrilateral, because ∠AFH+∠HEA=90∘+90∘=180∘\angle AFH + \angle HEA = 90^\circ + 90^\circ = 180^\circ.
Therefore, ∠FEA=∠FHA=β\angle FEA = \angle FHA = \beta holds, because both these angles subtend the chord AF‾\overline{AF}. Thus, triangle AFEAFE shares an angle (∠BAC=∠FAE\angle BAC = \angle FAE) with triangle ABCABC. Since we also have ∠FEA=β\angle FEA = \beta, it follows that AEFAEF and ABCABC are similar, so that
∣AE∣∣AF∣=∣AB∣∣AC∣.(5) \frac{|AE|}{|AF|} = \frac{|AB|}{|AC|}. \qquad (5)
The quadrilateral ABKCABKC being cyclic, we know that the inscribed angles which subtend AB‾\overline{AB} are equal to ∠BKA=∠BCA=γ\angle BKA = \angle BCA = \gamma.
In triangle AFEAFE we have ∠AFE=γ\angle AFE = \gamma (by similarity with triangle ABCABC), so its complementary angle equals ∠HFE=90∘−γ\angle HFE = 90^\circ - \gamma. Notice that ∠HAE=∠HFE=90∘−γ\angle HAE = \angle HFE = 90^\circ - \gamma, because these are both inscribed angles inside the cyclic quadrilateral AFHEAFHE. It follows that the triangles AGEAGE and AMBAMB are similar, so that
∣AG∣∣AE∣=∣AM∣∣AB∣.(6) \frac{|AG|}{|AE|} = \frac{|AM|}{|AB|}. \qquad (6)
By multiplying (4), (5) and (6) we obtain the equality of ratios ∣AG∣∣AH∣\frac{|AG|}{|AH|} and ∣AM∣∣AK∣\frac{|AM|}{|AK|}.
Finally, using the converse to the intercept theorem, we conclude that the lines GMGM and HKHK are parallel.

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