Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2023

Geometry Difficulty 7.9 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle with MM is the midpoint of BCBC and BAM<90\angle BAM < 90^\circ, AMB=60\angle AMB = 60^\circ. On ray MAMA, take the point NN such that BN=ACBN = AC. Prove that BC=2ANBC = 2AN and the orthocenters and circumcenters of two triangles BMNBMN, AMCAMC form the four vertices of an isosceles trapezoid.

Solution

On MNMN, take the point DD such that ND=AMND = AM. Then, AN=DMAN = DM. According to the sine theorem then
BMsinBNM=BNsinBMN=ACsinAMC=MCsinMAC, \frac{BM}{\sin \angle BNM} = \frac{BN}{\sin \angle BMN} = \frac{AC}{\sin \angle AMC} = \frac{MC}{\sin \angle MAC},

so BNM=MAC<90\angle BNM = \angle MAC < 90^\circ, which implies that AMCNDB\triangle AMC \cong \triangle NDB so
BDM=180BDN=180AMC=AMB=60. \angle BDM = 180^\circ - \angle BDN = 180^\circ - \angle AMC = \angle AMB = 60^\circ.
Also, BD=MC=MBBD = MC = MB so triangle BDMBDM is isosceles, with BDM=60\angle BDM = 60^\circ so equilateral. Therefore AN=DM=BM=12BCAN = DM = BM = \frac{1}{2}BC.

Figure 1

Let X,YX, Y be the centers of the circumcircles of triangles AMC,BMNAMC, BMN and H,KH, K respectively their orthocenters. We have a familiar result: triangle ABCABC has circumradius RR and orthocenter HH then AH=2RcosAAH = 2R|\cos A|. Applying to this problem, notice that two triangles AMCAMC and BMNBMN have the same radius of circumcircle RR, so
MH=2Rcos60=R and MK=2Rcos120=R. MH = 2R \cos 60^\circ = R \text{ and } MK = 2R |\cos 120^\circ| = R.
Therefore, four points X,Y,H,KX, Y, H, K are on the same circle with center MM. Next, denote \ell as the internal bisector of BMN\angle BMN, then MH,MXMH, MX are symmetric through \ell. And MH=MXMH = MX so we have HXHX \perp \ell. Similarly KYKY \perp \ell so HXKYHX \parallel KY. From this it follows that HXYKHXYK is an isosceles trapezoid. \square

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