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Czech-Slovak-Polish Match

Geometry Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Czech-Polish-Slovak Mathematical Match

Let kk be the circumcircle of a given convex quadrilateral ABCDABCD with the property that the half-lines DADA and CBCB meet at a point EE for which ∣CD∣2=∣AD∣⋅∣ED∣|CD|^2 = |AD| \cdot |ED| holds. Let us denote by FF (F≠AF \neq A) the point of intersection of the circle kk with the perpendicular to EDED at AA. Prove that the segments ADAD and CFCF are congruent if and only if the circumcenter of the triangle ABEABE lies on EDED.

Solution

Clearly DFDF is a diameter of kk. First we show that under the given conditions the vertex CC cannot lie in the half-plane DFADFA.
If the vertices BB, CC are points on the subarc DADA of the arc DAFDAF (Fig. 1) then the angles DCBDCB and DBADBA are obtuse, hence ∣DC∣<∣DB∣<∣DA∣<∣DE∣|DC| < |DB| < |DA| < |DE|, which contradicts to the equality ∣CD∣2=∣AD∣⋅∣ED∣|CD|^2 = |AD| \cdot |ED|.
If the vertices BB, CC are points on the subarc AFAF of the arc DAFDAF (Fig. 2) the angle BAEBAE is acute and ∣∠DBE∣=180∘−∣∠DBC∣≤90∘|\angle DBE| = 180^\circ - |\angle DBC| \le 90^\circ, so the possible other meeting point B′B' of the half-line DBDB with the circumcircle of the triangle AEBAEB lies in the segment DBDB. Hence ∣DC∣>∣DB∣≥∣DB′∣|DC| > |DB| \ge |DB'|. This means that the equality ∣CD∣2=∣AD∣⋅∣ED∣|CD|^2 = |AD| \cdot |ED| cannot hold as ∣AD∣⋅∣ED∣=∣DB∣⋅∣DB′∣|AD| \cdot |ED| = |DB| \cdot |DB'| (which is the power of DD with respect to the circumcircle of the triangle AEBAEB).

Figure 1
Fig. 1

Figure 2
Fig. 2

We have shown that the vertex CC of the given quadrangle does not lie in the half-plane FDAFDA, hence ∣FC∣=∣DA∣|FC| = |DA| if and only if DAFCDAFC is a rectangle, i.e. if and only if CACA is a diameter of the circle kk, which is equivalent to the angle CBACBA being right, which is in turn equivalent to the triangle AEBAEB being right with the right angle at BB, i.e. to the circumcenter of the triangle AEBAEB being the midpoint of AEAE.

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