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Geometry Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Estonia

In a cyclic quadrilateral ABCDABCD we have AD>BC|AD| > |BC| and the vertices CC and DD lie on the shorter arc ABAB of the circumcircle. Rays ADAD and BCBC intersect at point KK, diagonals ACAC and BDBD intersect at point PP. Line KPKP intersects the side ABAB at point LL. Prove that ALK\angle ALK is acute.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

From the properties of cyclic quadrilaterals we get KAB=KCD\angle KAB = \angle KC'D and KBA=KDC\angle KBA = \angle KDC. Let A,B,KA', B', K' be the feet of the altitudes of the triangle ABKABK drawn from the vertices A,B,KA, B, K, respectively, and let HH be the orthocenter of the triangle ABKABK (Fig. 18). The points A,B,A,BA, B, A', B' lie on a common circle, hence KAB=KAB\angle KA'B' = \angle KAB if ABA' \neq B'. Therefore AA' and BB' lie on a line parallel to CDCD. Denote this line by ABA'B' (even in the case A=B=KA' = B' = K).

Figure 1
Fig. 18
Figure 2
Fig. 19

Let d(X,l)d(X, l) be the distance of point XX from line ll, and let SΔS_\Delta be the area of triangle Δ\Delta. By two angles, ACKBDK\angle ACK \sim \angle BDK and PADPBC\angle PAD \sim \angle PBC, whence
AKBK=ACBD and APBP=ADBC. At the same time \frac{|AK|}{|BK|} = \frac{|AC|}{|BD|} \text{ and } \frac{|AP|}{|BP|} = \frac{|AD|}{|BC|}. \text{ At the same time}
d(A,CD)d(B,CD)=SACDSBCD=ACADsinCADBDBCsinCBD=ACADBDBC,d(A,KP)d(B,KP)=SAKPSBKP=AKAPsinKAPBKBPsinKBP=AKAPBKBP. \begin{aligned} \frac{d(A, CD)}{d(B, CD)} &= \frac{S_{\triangle ACD}}{S_{\triangle BCD}} = \frac{|AC| \cdot |AD| \cdot \sin \angle CAD}{|BD| \cdot |BC| \cdot \sin \angle CBD} = \frac{|AC| \cdot |AD|}{|BD| \cdot |BC|}, \\ \frac{d(A, KP)}{d(B, KP)} &= \frac{S_{\triangle AKP}}{S_{\triangle BKP}} = \frac{|AK| \cdot |AP| \cdot \sin \angle KAP}{|BK| \cdot |BP| \cdot \sin \angle KBP} = \frac{|AK| \cdot |AP|}{|BK| \cdot |BP|}. \end{aligned}
Therefore
ALLB=d(A,KP)d(B,KP)=d(A,CD)d(B,CD). \frac{|AL|}{|LB|} = \frac{d(A, KP)}{d(B, KP)} = \frac{d(A, CD)}{d(B, CD)}.

AKKB=d(A,KH)d(B,KH)=d(A,AB)d(B,AB). \frac{|AK'|}{|K'B|} = \frac{d(A, KH)}{d(B, KH)} = \frac{d(A, A'B')}{d(B, A'B')}.
This equality holds also in the special case A=B=KA' = B' = K. Indeed, let the projections of points AA and BB to the line ABA'B' be XX and YY correspondingly (Fig. 19), then AKX=KDC=KBA=AKK\angle AKX = \angle KDC = \angle KBA = \angle AKK', BKY=KCD=KAB=BKK\angle BKY = \angle KCD = \angle KAB = \angle BKK', whence AKXAKK\triangle AKX \sim \triangle AKK' and BKYBKK\triangle BKY \sim \triangle BKK'. It follows that AK=AX|AK'| = |AX|, BK=BY|BK'| = |BY| and AKKB=d(A,AB)d(B,AB).\frac{|AK'|}{|K'B|} = \frac{d(A,A'B')}{d(B,A'B')}.

Considering instead of the cyclic quadrilateral ABCDABCD the quadrilateral determined by points A,B,A,BA, B, A', B', and instead of PP and LL the points HH and KK' correspondingly, we get similarly that
AKKB=d(A,KH)d(B,KH)=d(A,AB)d(B,AB). \frac{|AK'|}{|K'B|} = \frac{d(A, KH)}{d(B, KH)} = \frac{d(A, A'B')}{d(B, A'B')}.

Since CC and DD lie on the shorter arc ABAB, we have BCA=BDA>π2\angle BCA = \angle BDA > \frac{\pi}{2}. Thus the line ABA'B' is farther from the points AA and BB than the line CDCD. Since AD>BC|AD| > |BC|, we have ABD>CAB\angle ABD > \angle CAB and also KBA>KAB\angle KBA > \angle KAB, which implies KA>KB|KA| > |KB|. Hence d(A,CD)+d(K,CD)>d(B,CD)+d(K,CD)d(A, CD) + d(K, CD) > d(B, CD) + d(K, CD), or d(A,CD)>d(B,CD)d(A, CD) > d(B, CD). All together

Figure 3
Fig. 20

ALLB=d(A,CD)d(B,CD)>d(A,AB)d(B,AB)=AKKB. \frac{|AL|}{|LB|} = \frac{d(A, CD)}{d(B, CD)} > \frac{d(A, A'B')}{d(B, A'B')} = \frac{|AK'|}{|K'B|}.
Hence LL lies farther from AA than KK' on the segment ABAB, therefore ALK<AKK=π2\angle ALK < \angle AK'K = \frac{\pi}{2}, i.e. ALK\angle ALK is acute.

Solution 2

Denote KAB=KCD=α\angle KAB = \angle KCD = \alpha, KBA=KDC=β\angle KBA = \angle KDC = \beta, KAC=KBD=δ\angle KAC = \angle KBD = \delta and ALK=ξ\angle ALK = \xi (Fig. 20). Then KDB=α+βδ=KCA\angle KDB = \alpha + \beta - \delta = \angle KCA. The condition AD>BC|AD| > |BC| is equivalent to β>α\beta > \alpha, and points CC and DD being located in the shorter arc ABAB is equivalent to the inequality α+βδ<π2\alpha + \beta - \delta < \frac{\pi}{2}. In triangle KCDKCD we get KDKC=sinαsinβ\frac{|KD|}{|KC|} = \frac{\sin \alpha}{\sin \beta}. From triangles KDPKDP and KCPKCP we obtain KPsin(α+βδ)=KDsin(ξ(βδ))\frac{|KP|}{\sin(\alpha+\beta-\delta)} = \frac{|KD|}{\sin(\xi-(\beta-\delta))}, KPsin(α+βδ)=KCsin(ξ+(αδ))\frac{|KP|}{\sin(\alpha+\beta-\delta)} = \frac{|KC|}{\sin(\xi+(\alpha-\delta))}, respectively. Consequently, KDKC=sin(ξ(βδ))sin(ξ+(αδ))\frac{|KD|}{|KC|} = \frac{\sin(\xi-(\beta-\delta))}{\sin(\xi+(\alpha-\delta))}. Expressions of KDKC\frac{|KD|}{|KC|} together yield
sinζ(sinβcos(βδ)sinαcos(αδ))=cosζ(sinβsin(βδ)+sinαsin(αδ)).(1) \sin \zeta (\sin \beta \cos(\beta - \delta) - \sin \alpha \cos(\alpha - \delta)) = \cos \zeta (\sin \beta \sin(\beta - \delta) + \sin \alpha \sin(\alpha - \delta)). \quad (1)
Clearly sinζ>0\sin \zeta > 0 and sinβsin(βδ)+sinαsin(αδ)>0\sin \beta \sin(\beta - \delta) + \sin \alpha \sin(\alpha - \delta) > 0 because ζ<π\zeta < \pi and β>δ\beta > \delta, α>δ\alpha > \delta. By the formula sinxcosy=12(sin(x+y)+sin(xy))\sin x \cos y = \frac{1}{2}(\sin(x + y) + \sin(x - y)), we get sinβcos(βδ)sinαcos(αδ)=12(sin(2βδ)sin(2αδ))\sin \beta \cos(\beta - \delta) - \sin \alpha \cos(\alpha - \delta) = \frac{1}{2}(\sin(2\beta - \delta) - \sin(2\alpha - \delta)). Now α+βδ<π2\alpha + \beta - \delta < \frac{\pi}{2} implies (2βδ)+(2αδ)<π(2\beta - \delta) + (2\alpha - \delta) < \pi, i.e., there exists a triangle whose two angles are 2βδ2\beta - \delta and 2αδ2\alpha - \delta. But 2βδ>2αδ2\beta - \delta > 2\alpha - \delta since β>α\beta > \alpha, therefore the law of sines in that triangle implies sin(2βδ)>sin(2αδ)\sin(2\beta - \delta) > \sin(2\alpha - \delta) (the larger the angle, the larger its opposite side in a triangle). Hence the second factor in the l.h.s. of equation (1) is positive. Altogether, we obtain cosζ>0\cos \zeta > 0, whence ζ<π2\zeta < \frac{\pi}{2}.

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