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Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Estonia

Let ABCABC be a triangle where AB=ACAB = AC. Let EE be the foot of its altitude from the vertex BB. Given that either BEABEA or BECBEC is an isosceles triangle, find all possibilities of the size of the angle at the vertex AA of the triangle ABCABC.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

*Answer:* 4545^\circ, 9090^\circ, 135135^\circ.

Let α=BAC\alpha = \angle BAC. Both triangles BEABEA and BECBEC have right angle at vertex EE. Hence these triangles can be isosceles only if their other angles have size 4545^\circ.

Suppose that BECBEC is isosceles (see figure below).
Then BCE=45\angle BCE = 45^\circ. Since BCE=BCA=180α2\angle BCE = \angle BCA = \frac{180^\circ - \alpha}{2}, we have α=180245=90\alpha = 180^\circ - 2 \cdot 45^\circ = 90^\circ.

Suppose now that BEABEA is isosceles. Then BAE=45\angle BAE = 45^\circ.
If EE lies on the line segment ACAC (see figure below) then BAE=BAC=α\angle BAE = \angle BAC = \alpha, implying α=45\alpha = 45^\circ.
If EE lies outside the line segment ACAC (see figure below) then BAE=180BAC=180α\angle BAE = 180^\circ - \angle BAC = 180^\circ - \alpha, implying α=18045=135\alpha = 180^\circ - 45^\circ = 135^\circ.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Solution 2

Let α=BAC\alpha = \angle BAC. Then ABC=ACB=180α2\angle ABC = \angle ACB = \frac{180^\circ - \alpha}{2} and EBC=90180α2=α2\angle EBC = 90^\circ - \frac{180^\circ - \alpha}{2} = \frac{\alpha}{2}.
Both triangles BEABEA and BECBEC have right angle at vertex EE. Hence these triangles can be isosceles only if their other two angles have equal size.

Suppose that BECBEC is isosceles. Then 180α2=α2\frac{180^\circ - \alpha}{2} = \frac{\alpha}{2}, implying α=90\alpha = 90^\circ.

Suppose now that BEABEA is isosceles. If the triangle ABCABC is acute, we must have BAE=α\angle BAE = \alpha and ABE=180α2α2=90α\angle ABE = \frac{180^\circ - \alpha}{2} - \frac{\alpha}{2} = 90^\circ - \alpha. Thus α=90α\alpha = 90^\circ - \alpha, implying α=45\alpha = 45^\circ.
If the triangle ABCABC is obtuse then BAE=180α\angle BAE = 180^\circ - \alpha and ABE=α2180α2=α90\angle ABE = \frac{\alpha}{2} - \frac{180^\circ - \alpha}{2} = \alpha - 90^\circ. Hence 180α=α90180^\circ - \alpha = \alpha - 90^\circ, implying α=135\alpha = 135^\circ.
The triangle ABCABC is not right as, otherwise, the triangle BEABEA would have two right angles.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

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