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Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Brazil

Given a triangle ABCABC, explain how to construct with ruler and compass a triangle ABCA'B'C' of minimum area such that CACC' \in AC, AABA' \in AB, BBCB' \in BC and BAC=BAC\angle B'A'C' = \angle BAC, ACB=ACB\angle A'C'B' = \angle ACB.

Solution

Let A\angle A, B\angle B and C\angle C be the angles of ABC\triangle ABC and A\angle A', B\angle B' and C\angle C' be the angles of ABC\triangle A'B'C'. Thus A=A\angle A = \angle A' and C=C\angle C = \angle C'.

The circumcircle of AAC\triangle AA'C' meets the circumcircle of CCB\triangle CC'B' at DCD \neq C'. Thus ADC=πA\angle A'DC' = \pi - \angle A and CDB=πC\angle C'DB' = \pi - \angle C. Moreover, ADB=2π(πA)(πC)=πB\angle A'DB' = 2\pi - (\pi - \angle A) - (\pi - \angle C) = \pi - \angle B. Hence the circumcircle of BBA\triangle BB'A' passes through DD.

It is easy to see that DAA=DCA=α\angle DAA' = \angle DC'A' = \alpha and DAC=DAC=α\angle DA'C' = \angle DAC' = \alpha. Since A=A\angle A = \angle A' we conclude that DAB=α\angle DA'B' = \alpha. Furthermore DBB=α\angle DBB' = \alpha as BBDABB'DA' is cyclic. Analogously DCC=α\angle DCC' = \alpha.

Hence DD is a fixed point since it satisfies
DAB=DBC=DCA \angle DAB = \angle DBC = \angle DCA
and consequently does not depend on AA', BB' and CC'. Its construction is shown below.

As the angles ADB\angle A'DB', BDC\angle B'DC' and CDA\angle C'DA' are constant, the minimum area of ABC\triangle A'B'C' occurs when the lengths of DADA', DBDB' and DCDC' are minimum. Thus the lines DADA', DBDB' and DCDC' ought to be respectively orthogonal to the sides ABAB, BCBC and CACA.

Construction of point DD

Let EE be the intersection point of the perpendicular bisector of ABAB and the perpendicular to BCBC through BB. Thus the circle with center EE and radius EAEA touches BCBC at BB. Therefore XAB=XBC\angle XAB = \angle XBC for each point XX in the shorter arc ABAB.

Similarly, define FF as the intersection point of the perpendicular bisector of BCBC and the perpendicular to CACA through CC. The circle with center FF and radius FBFB touches CACA at CC. Therefore XBC=XCA\angle XBC = \angle XCA for each point XX on the shorter arc BCBC.

The point DD is the intersection point of these two arcs. It is easy to see that the point DD is unique.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.