Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.7 National olympiad Prove it Ukraine

Two circles w1,w2w_1, w_2 are externally tangent at a point QQ. A common external tangent line to these circles (that doesn't pass through QQ) is tangent to w1w_1 at a point BB, and BABA is a diameter of this circle. The point AA belongs to the line tangent to the circle w2w_2 at a point CC such that BB and CC are in the same half-plane with respect to the line AQAQ. Prove that the circle w1w_1 bisects the segment BCBC.

Figure 1
Fig. 6.

Solution

Let KK be the point where the common tangent touches the circle w2w_2 (Fig. 6). Consider the common tangent line to the two circles that passes through the point QQ. Suppose it intersects the line BKBK at a point PP. By the properties of lines tangent to circles,
PB=PQ=PK. PB = PQ = PK.
Therefore, BQK=90\angle BQK = 90^\circ. Since ABAB is a diameter of w1w_1, we have that AQB=90\angle AQB = 90^\circ, and so the points A,Q,KA, Q, K are collinear. It is given in the problem statement that ABBKAB \perp BK, which implies that
AB2=AQAK and AC2=AQAK AB^2 = AQ \cdot AK \text{ and } AC^2 = AQ \cdot AK
(from the properties of the right triangle ABK\triangle ABK and the properties of secant and tangent lines to the circle w2w_2). It then follows that AB=ACAB = AC. If w1w_1 intersects BCBC at a point MM, then BMA=90\angle BMA = 90^\circ, and so AMAM is the altitude of the isosceles triangle ABC\triangle ABC. This proves that BM=MCBM = MC, as required.

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