Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

Triangle ABCA B C has AB=4A B=4, BC=6B C=6, and AC=5A C=5. Let OO denote the circumcenter of ABCA B C. The circle Γ\Gamma is tangent to and surrounds the circumcircles of triangles AOBA O B, BOCB O C, and AOCA O C. Determine the diameter of Γ\Gamma.

Solution

Solution:

Denote by ω\omega, Γ1\Gamma_{1}, Γ2\Gamma_{2}, and Γ3\Gamma_{3} the circumcenters of triangles ABCA B C, BOCB O C, COAC O A, and AOBA O B, respectively. An inversion about ω\omega interchanges Γ1\Gamma_{1} and line BCB C, Γ2\Gamma_{2} and line CAC A, and Γ3\Gamma_{3} and line ABA B. This inversion also preserves tangency between generalized circles, so the image of Γ\Gamma is a circle tangent to ABA B, BCB C, and CAC A. It is the incircle of ABCA B C because it is closer to OO than these lines and ABCA B C is acute.

Now we run a few standard calculations. Where ss, rr, and RR denote the semiperimeter, inradius, and circumradius of ABCA B C, respectively, we have the following:
[ABC]=s(sa)(sb)(sc)=1574r=[ABC]/s=7/2R=abc4[ABC]=87OI2=R(R2r)=87 \begin{aligned} & [A B C]=\sqrt{s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)}=\frac{15 \sqrt{7}}{4} \\ & r=[A B C] / s=\sqrt{7} / 2 \\ & R=\frac{a b c}{4[A B C]}=\frac{8}{\sqrt{7}} \\ & O I^{2}=R(R-2 r)=\frac{8}{7} \end{aligned}
Let OIO I intersect the incircle of ABCA B C at PP and QQ, with II between PP and OO. Then OP=r+OIO P=r+O I and OQ=rOIO Q=r-O I, and PQ\overline{P Q} is a diameter. Under the inversion, PP and QQ map to PP^{\prime} and QQ^{\prime} respectively. Because PP, II, OO, and QQ are collinear in that order, PP^{\prime} and QQ^{\prime} are diametrically opposed on Γ\Gamma. It follows that the diameter of Γ\Gamma is
PQ=OP+OQ=R2OP+R2OQ=R2(1r+OI+1rOI)=2rR2r2OI2. P^{\prime} Q^{\prime}=O P^{\prime}+O Q^{\prime}=\frac{R^{2}}{O P}+\frac{R^{2}}{O Q}=R^{2}\left(\frac{1}{r+O I}+\frac{1}{r-O I}\right)=\frac{2 r R^{2}}{r^{2}-O I^{2}}.
We plug in the values found above to arrive at 256717\frac{256 \sqrt{7}}{17}.

Figure 1

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.