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IRL ABooklet

Geometry Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Ireland

The point OO is the circumcentre of triangle ABCABC. The point EE is on the extension of the side ABAB such that BB is between EE and AA, the point FF is on the extension of the side ACAC such that CC is between FF and AA, and the lines BFBF and CECE intersect on the circumcircle of triangle ABCABC. The midpoint of EFEF is MM, and NN is a point on the circumcircle of triangle ABCABC such that ∣MN∣=∣EM∣|MN| = |EM|. Prove that the angle ∠MNO\angle MNO is a right angle.

Solution

Let DD be the intersection point of BFBF and CECE. The circumcircle Ω\Omega of triangle ABCABC has centre OO and radius r=∣ON∣r = |ON|. Let GG be the second intersection point of the circumcircle of triangle ABFABF and the line EFEF. We then have ∠CAB=∠BGE\angle CAB = \angle BGE and
∣EB∣⋅∣EA∣=∣EG∣⋅∣EF∣(12) |EB| \cdot |EA| = |EG| \cdot |EF| \qquad (12)
Because ABDCABDC is cyclic, we have ∠BDE=∠CAB\angle BDE = \angle CAB and so ∠BDE=∠BGE\angle BDE = \angle BGE which implies that BEGDBEGD is cyclic. This gives
∣FD∣⋅∣FB∣=∣GF∣⋅∣EF∣.(13) |FD| \cdot |FB| = |GF| \cdot |EF|. \qquad (13)
Adding (12) and (13) gives
∣EB∣⋅∣EA∣+∣FD∣⋅∣FB∣=∣EF∣2.(14) |EB| \cdot |EA| + |FD| \cdot |FB| = |EF|^2. \qquad (14)
Considering the power of the points EE and FF with respect to the circle Ω\Omega, we obtain
∣EB∣⋅∣EA∣=∣OE∣2−r2and∣FD∣⋅∣FB∣=∣OF∣2−r2. |EB| \cdot |EA| = |OE|^2 - r^2 \quad \text{and} \quad |FD| \cdot |FB| = |OF|^2 - r^2.
Adding these together yields
∣EB∣⋅∣EA∣+∣FD∣⋅∣FB∣=∣OE∣2+∣OF∣2−2r2.(15) |EB| \cdot |EA| + |FD| \cdot |FB| = |OE|^2 + |OF|^2 - 2r^2. \qquad (15)
To prove that △MNO\triangle MNO is right angled, we now need a formula for the median OMOM of triangle EFOEFO. Such a formula is well known and can be obtained from the Cosine Rule as follows. Let θ=∠OME\theta = \angle OME, then ∠FMO=180∘−θ\angle FMO = 180^{\circ} - \theta and cos⁡(180∘−θ)=−cos⁡(θ)\cos(180^{\circ} - \theta) = -\cos(\theta). The Cosine Rule for triangles FMOFMO and OMEOME gives
∣OF∣2=∣FM∣2+∣OM∣2+2∣FM∣⋅∣OM∣cos⁡(θ)∣OE∣2=∣EM∣2+∣OM∣2−2∣EM∣⋅∣OM∣cos⁡(θ) \begin{aligned} |OF|^2 &= |FM|^2 + |OM|^2 + 2|FM| \cdot |OM| \cos(\theta) \\ |OE|^2 &= |EM|^2 + |OM|^2 - 2|EM| \cdot |OM| \cos(\theta) \end{aligned}
Adding these together and taking into account that ∣EM∣=∣FM∣|EM| = |FM|, we obtain
∣OF∣2+∣OE∣2=2∣OM∣2+2∣EM∣2.(16) |OF|^2 + |OE|^2 = 2|OM|^2 + 2|EM|^2. \qquad (16)
Because ∣EF∣=2∣EM∣|EF| = 2|EM|, (14), (15) and (16) give us
4∣EM∣2=∣EF∣2=∣OE∣2+∣OF∣2−2r2=2∣OM∣2+2∣EM∣2−2r2, 4|EM|^2 = |EF|^2 = |OE|^2 + |OF|^2 - 2r^2 = 2|OM|^2 + 2|EM|^2 - 2r^2,
and we obtain 2∣EM∣2=2∣OM∣2−2r22|EM|^2 = 2|OM|^2 - 2r^2. Using r=∣ON∣r = |ON| and ∣EM∣=∣MN∣|EM| = |MN|, this can be rewritten as
∣MN∣2+∣ON∣2=∣OM∣2 |MN|^2 + |ON|^2 = |OM|^2
Figure 1

and this means that triangle MNOMNO has a right angle at NN.

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