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Geometry Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:

Consider the excircles of a triangle ABCABC tangent to the sides ABAB and ACAC. Denote by MM, NN and PP the tangent points of the first circle to the side ABAB and the extensions of the sides BCBC and CACA and by SS, QQ and RR the tangent points of the second circle to the side ACAC and the extensions of the sides ABAB and BCBC. Let XX be the intersection point of the lines MNMN and RSRS and YY be the intersection point of the lines PNPN and RQRQ. Prove that the points XX, AA and YY are colinear.

Solution

Solution:

We shall use the standard notations. We first prove that YXBCYX \perp BC. In BQR\triangle BQR we have BRY=90β2\angle BRY = 90^\circ - \frac{\beta}{2} and since MNB=β2\angle MNB = \frac{\beta}{2} it follows that NXRYNX \perp RY. Analogously RXNYRX \perp NY. This means that XX is the orthocenter of NRY\triangle NRY and YXRNYX \perp RN. Hence YXBCYX \perp BC.

Figure 1

Now we shall prove that XX lies on the altitude of ABC\triangle ABC through AA. Denote by XX' its intersection point with MNMN. Since BM=BNBM = BN and CP=CN=pCP = CN = p, we have BM=BN=paBM = BN = p - a. Then AM=c(pa)=pbAM = c - (p - a) = p - b and by the Sine theorem for AMX\triangle AMX' we get
AXsinβ2=AMsinAXMAXsinβ2=pbsin(90+β2)AX=(pb)tanβ2 \frac{AX'}{\sin \frac{\beta}{2}} = \frac{AM}{\sin \angle AX'M} \Longleftrightarrow \frac{AX'}{\sin \frac{\beta}{2}} = \frac{p-b}{\sin \left(90^\circ + \frac{\beta}{2}\right)} \Longleftrightarrow AX' = (p-b) \tan \frac{\beta}{2}
On the other hand, if TT is the tangent point of the incircle with the side BCBC, then BT=pbBT = p-b and r=(pb)tanβ2r = (p-b) \tan \frac{\beta}{2}. Therefore AX=rAX' = r. Analogously, if XX'' is the intersection point of RSRS and the altitude of ABC\triangle ABC through AA, then AX=rAX'' = r. Therefore XXXX' \equiv X'' \equiv X.

Since YXBCYX \perp BC and AXBCAX \perp BC, we conclude that the points XX, AA and YY are colinear.

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