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Geometry Difficulty 7.4 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it United States

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle with incenter II, circumcenter OO, and circumcircle Γ\Gamma. Let MM be the midpoint of AB\overline{AB}. Ray AIAI meets BC\overline{BC} at DD. Denote by ω\omega and γ\gamma the circumcircles of BIC\triangle BIC and BAD\triangle BAD, respectively. Line MOMO meets ω\omega at XX and YY, while line COCO meets ω\omega at CC and QQ. Assume that QQ lies inside ABC\triangle ABC and AQM=ACB\angle AQM = \angle ACB.
Consider the tangents to ω\omega at XX and YY and the tangents to γ\gamma at AA and DD. Given that BAC60\angle BAC \neq 60^\circ, prove that these four lines are concurrent on Γ\Gamma.

Solution

Henceforth assume A60\angle A \neq 60^\circ; we prove the concurrence. Let LL denote the center of ω\omega, which is the midpoint of minor arc BCBC.

Claim. Let KK be the point on ω\omega such that KLAB\overline{KL} \parallel \overline{AB} and KCAL\overline{KC} \parallel \overline{AL}. Then KA\overline{KA} is tangent to γ\gamma, and we may put
x=KA=LB=LC=LX=LY=KX=KY. x = KA = LB = LC = LX = LY = KX = KY.
Proof. By construction, KA=LB=LCKA = LB = LC. Also, MO\overline{MO} is the perpendicular bisector of KL\overline{KL} (since the chords KL\overline{KL}, AB\overline{AB} of ω\omega are parallel) and so KXLYKXLY is a rhombus as well.
Moreover, KA\overline{KA} is tangent to γ\gamma as well since
KAD=KAL=KAC+CAL=KBC+ABK=ABC. \angle KAD = \angle KAL = \angle KAC + \angle CAL = \angle KBC + \angle ABK = \angle ABC.

Figure 1

Up to now we have not used the existence of QQ; we henceforth do so.
Note that QOQ \neq O, since A60    Oω\angle A \neq 60^\circ \implies O \notin \omega. Moreover, we have AOM=ACB\angle AOM = \angle ACB too. Since OO and QQ both lie inside ABC\triangle ABC, this implies that A,M,O,QA, M, O, Q are concyclic. As QOQ \neq O we conclude CQA=90\angle CQA = 90^\circ.
The main claim is now:
Claim. Assuming QQ exists, the rhombus LXKYLXKY is a square. In particular, KX\overline{KX} and KY\overline{KY} are tangent to ω\omega.

First proof of Claim, communicated by Milan Haiman. Observe that QLCLOC\triangle QLC \sim \triangle LOC. Hence, CL2=COCQCL^2 = CO \cdot CQ. Then,
x2=CL2=COCQ=CNCA=12CA2=12LK2 x^2 = CL^2 = CO \cdot CQ = CN \cdot CA = \frac{1}{2}CA^2 = \frac{1}{2}LK^2
where we have also used the fact AQONAQON is cyclic. Thus LK=2xLK = \sqrt{2}x and so the rhombus LXKYLXKY is actually a square. \square

Second proof of Claim, Evan Chen. Observe that QQ lies on the circle with diameter AC\overline{AC}, centered at NN, say. This means that OO lies on the radical axis of ω\omega and (N)(N), hence NLCO\overline{NL} \perp \overline{CO} implying
NO2+CL2=NC2+LO2=NC2+OC2=NC2+NO2+NC2     x2=2NC2     x=2NC=12AC=12LK. \begin{align*} NO^2 + CL^2 &= NC^2 + LO^2 = NC^2 + OC^2 = NC^2 + NO^2 + NC^2 \ \implies x^2 &= 2NC^2 \ \implies x &= \sqrt{2}NC = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}AC = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}LK. \end{align*}
So LXKYLXKY is a rhombus with LK=2xLK = \sqrt{2}x. Hence it is a square. \square

Third proof of Claim. A solution by trig is also possible. As in the previous claims, it suffices to show that AC=2xAC = \sqrt{2}x.

First, we compute the length CQCQ in two ways; by angle chasing one can show CBQ=180(BQC+QCB)=12A\angle CBQ = 180^\circ - (\angle BQC + \angle QCB) = \frac{1}{2}\angle A, and so
ACsinB=CQ=BCsin(90+12A)sin12Asin2B=sinAsin12Acos12Asin2B=2sin212AsinB=2sin12A2RsinB=2(2Rsin12A)AC=2x \begin{aligned} AC \sin B &= CQ = \frac{BC}{\sin(90^\circ + \frac{1}{2}\angle A)} \cdot \sin \frac{1}{2}\angle A \\ \Leftrightarrow \sin^2 B &= \frac{\sin A \cdot \sin \frac{1}{2}\angle A}{\cos \frac{1}{2}\angle A} \\ \Leftrightarrow \sin^2 B &= 2 \sin^2 \frac{1}{2}\angle A \\ \Leftrightarrow \sin B &= \sqrt{2} \sin \frac{1}{2}\angle A \\ \Leftrightarrow 2R \sin B &= \sqrt{2} \left( 2R \sin \frac{1}{2}\angle A \right) \\ \Leftrightarrow AC &= \sqrt{2}x \end{aligned}
as desired (we have here used the fact ABC\triangle ABC is acute to take square roots).

We finish by proving that
KD=KA KD = KA
and hence line KD\overline{KD} is tangent to γ\gamma. Let E=BCKLE = \overline{BC} \cap \overline{KL}. Then
LELK=LC2=LX2=12LK2 LE \cdot LK = LC^2 = LX^2 = \frac{1}{2}LK^2
and so EE is the midpoint of LK\overline{LK}. Thus MXOY\overline{MXOY}, BC\overline{BC}, KL\overline{KL} are concurrent at EE. As DLKC\overline{DL} \parallel \overline{KC}, we find that DLCKDLCK is a parallelogram, so KD=CL=KAKD = CL = KA as well. Thus KD\overline{KD} and KA\overline{KA} are tangent to γ\gamma.

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