GeometryDifficulty 7.5National Olympiad, round 2Prove itUnited States
Let ABP, BCQ, CAR be three non-overlapping triangles erected outside of acute triangle ABC. Let M be the midpoint of segment AP. Given that ∠PAB=∠CQB=45∘, ∠ABP=∠QBC=75∘, ∠RAC=105∘, and RQ2=6CM2, compute AC2/AR2.
Solution
Because ∠BAP=∠BQC=45∘ and ∠PBA=∠CQB=75∘, triangles BQC and BAP are similar to each other, from which it follows that triangles BCP and BQA are similar to each other. Hence, the law of sines gives AQCP=BABP=sin∠APBsin∠BAP=sin60∘sin45∘=32 Extend segment CM through M to S with CM=MS. Then CS=2CM=2RQ/6, from which it follows that AQCP=QRCS. Because triangles BPC and BAQ are similar to each other, we may set x=∠CPB=∠QAB. Because segments SC and AP bisect each other, ACPS is a parallelogram, implying that ∠SPA=∠CAP=∠CAB+∠BAP=∠CAB+45∘. It follows that ∠SPC=∠SPA+∠APB−∠CPB=∠CAB+45∘+60∘−x=∠CAB+105∘−x. On the other hand, ∠RAQ=∠RAC+∠CAB−∠QAB=105∘+∠CAB−x. Hence we have ∠SPC=∠RAQ. Therefore, we have that ∠SPC=∠RAQandAQCP=QRCS and that ∠SPC=180∘−∠ACP>180∘−∠ACB>90∘ is obtuse because triangle ABC is acute. Therefore, we may conclude that triangles RAQ and SPC are similar. This means that ARSP=QRSC=QR2CM=62. In view of parallelogram ACPS, we have that SP=AC, so we find that AR2AC2=AR2SP2=32.
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