Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

In triangle ABCABC, let points BB', CC' be the midpoints of sides ACAC and ABAB respectively, and let point HH be the foot of the altitude passing through vertex AA. Prove that the circumcircles of triangles ABCAB'C', BCHBC'H and BCHB'CH meet at a common point II, and that line HIHI bisects segment BCB'C'.

Solution

Figure 1

Let point FF be the midpoint of BCB'C', let point AA' be the midpoint of BCBC, and let line HFHF meet the circumcircle of BHC\triangle BHC' again at point II; also let line AAAA' meet the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC again at point MM. Triangle HBCHB'C' is congruent to ABC\triangle AB'C', hence similar to ABC\triangle ABC. Since

CIF=ABC=AMC, \angle C'IF = \angle ABC = \angle A'MC,
CFI=AAB=MAC, \angle C'FI = \angle AA'B = \angle MA'C,
2CF=CB, 2C'F = C'B',
2AC=CB,2A'C = CB,

we have CIBCMB\triangle C'IB' \sim \triangle CMB, and therefore FIB=AMB=ACB\angle FIB' = \angle A'MB = \angle ACB. Since CIB=180CAB\angle C'IB' = 180^\circ - \angle C'AB'), it follows that II lies on the circumcircles of ABC\triangle AB'C' and HCB\triangle HCB'.

Solution 2. Denote the three interior angles of ABC\triangle ABC by α,β,γ\alpha, \beta, \gamma respectively. It is easy to see that ABCHCB\triangle ABC \sim \triangle HC'B'. There exists a unique point II inside HCB\triangle HC'B' satisfying
HIB=180γ,HIC=180β,CIB=180α, \angle HIB' = 180^\circ - \gamma, \quad \angle HIC' = 180^\circ - \beta, \quad \angle C'IB' = 180^\circ - \alpha,
so the three circles mentioned in the problem must all pass through point II.
Let line HIHI meet BCB'C' at point FF. We now show that FB=FCFB' = FC''. From HIB+HBF=180\angle HIB' + \angle HB'F = 180^\circ, we obtain IHB=IBF\angle IHB' = \angle IB'F. Similarly, IHC=ICF\angle IHC' = \angle IC'F. Hence the circumcircles of IHC\triangle IHC' and IHB\triangle IHB' are tangent to BCB'C', from which it follows that FB2=FIFH=FC2FB'^2 = FI \cdot FH = FC'^2.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.