Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2016

Geometry Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

Let ABCABC be a triangle with incenter II whose incircle is tangent to BC\overline{BC}, CA\overline{CA}, AB\overline{AB} at D,E,FD, E, F. Point PP lies on EF\overline{EF} such that DPEF\overline{DP} \perp \overline{EF}. Ray BPBP meets AC\overline{AC} at YY and ray CPCP meets AB\overline{AB} at ZZ. Point QQ is selected on the circumcircle of AYZ\triangle AYZ so that AQBC\overline{AQ} \perp \overline{BC}.
Prove that P,I,QP, I, Q are collinear.

Figure 1

Solution

Solution:

The proof proceeds through a series of seven lemmas.

Lemma 1. Lines DPDP and EFEF are the internal and external angle bisectors of BPC\angle BPC.

Proof. Since DEFDEF is the cevian triangle of ABCABC with respect to its Gergonne point, we have that
1=(EFBC,D;B,C) -1=(\overline{EF} \cap \overline{BC}, D ; B, C)
Then since DPF=90\angle DPF=90^\circ we see PP is on the Apollonian circle of BCBC through DD. So the conclusion follows.

Lemma 2. Triangles BPFBPF and CEPCEP are similar.

Proof. Invoking the angle bisector theorem with the previous lemma gives
BPBF=BPBD=CPCD=CPCE \frac{BP}{BF}=\frac{BP}{BD}=\frac{CP}{CD}=\frac{CP}{CE}
But BFP=CEP\angle BFP=\angle CEP, so BFPCEP\triangle BFP \sim \triangle CEP.

Lemma 3. Quadrilateral BZYCBZYC is cyclic; in particular, line YZYZ is the antiparallel of line BCBC through BAC\angle BAC.

Proof. Remark that YBZ=PBF=ECP=YCZ\angle YBZ=\angle PBF=\angle ECP=\angle YCZ.

Lemma 4. The circumcircles of triangles AYZAYZ, AEFAEF, ABCABC are concurrent at a point XX such that XBFXCE\triangle XBF \sim \triangle XCE.

Proof. Note that line EFEF is the angle bisector of BPZ=CPY\angle BPZ=\angle CPY. Thus
ZFFB=ZPPB=YPPC=YEEC \frac{ZF}{FB}=\frac{ZP}{PB}=\frac{YP}{PC}=\frac{YE}{EC}
Then, if we let XX be the Miquel point of quadrilateral ZYCBZ Y C B, it follows that the spiral similarity mapping segment BZBZ to segment CYCY maps EE to FF; therefore the circumcircle of AEF\triangle AEF must pass through XX too.

Lemma 5. Ray XPXP bisects FXE\angle FXE.

Proof. The assertion amounts to
XFXE=BFEC=FPPE \frac{XF}{XE}=\frac{BF}{EC}=\frac{FP}{PE}
The first equality follows from the spiral similarity BFXCEX\triangle BFX \sim \triangle CEX, while the second is from BFPCEP\triangle BFP \sim \triangle CEP. So the proof is complete by the converse of angle bisector theorem.

Lemma 6. Points X,P,IX, P, I are collinear.

Proof. On one hand, FXI=FAI=12A\angle FXI=\angle FAI=\frac{1}{2} \angle A. On the other hand, FXP=12FXE=12A\angle FXP=\frac{1}{2} \angle FXE=\frac{1}{2} \angle A. Hence, X,P,IX, P, I collinear.

Lemma 7. Points X,Q,IX, Q, I are collinear.

Proof. On one hand, AXQ=90\angle AXQ=90^\circ, because we established earlier that line YZYZ was antiparallel to line BCBC through A\angle A, hence AQBCAQ \perp BC means exactly that AZQ=AYQ=90\angle AZQ=AYQ=90^\circ. On the other hand, AXI=90\angle AXI=90^\circ according to the fact that XX lies on the circle with diameter AIAI. This completes the proof of the lemma.

Finally, combining the final two lemmas solves the problem.

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