Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /135 of 156

Geometry Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it China

In ellipse Γ\Gamma, AA is an endpoint of the major axis, BB is an endpoint of the minor axis, and F1F_1, F2F_2 are the foci. If AF1AF2+BF1BF2=0\overrightarrow{AF_1} \cdot \overrightarrow{AF_2} + \overrightarrow{BF_1} \cdot \overrightarrow{BF_2} = 0, then find the value of tanABF1tanABF2\tan \angle ABF_1 \cdot \tan \angle ABF_2.

Solution

By symmetry, suppose the equation of Γ\Gamma is x2a2+y2b2=1\frac{x^2}{a^2} + \frac{y^2}{b^2} = 1 (a>b>0a > b > 0), and A(a,0)A(a, 0), B(0,b)B(0, b), F1(c,0)F_1(-c, 0), F2(c,0)F_2(c, 0), where c=a2b2c = \sqrt{a^2 - b^2}.
By the given conditions, we know that
AF1AF2+BF1BF2=(ca)(ca)+(c2+b2)=a2+b22c2=0. \begin{aligned} \overrightarrow{AF_1} \cdot \overrightarrow{AF_2} + \overrightarrow{BF_1} \cdot \overrightarrow{BF_2} &= (-c-a)(c-a) + (-c^2+b^2) \\ &= a^2 + b^2 - 2c^2 = 0. \end{aligned}
Thus, a2+b22c2=a2+3b2=0a^2 + b^2 - 2c^2 = -a^2 + 3b^2 = 0, and hence a=3b,c=2ba = \sqrt{3}b, c = \sqrt{2}b.
Let OO be the origin of the coordinates, and then
tanABO=ab=3,tanOBF1=tanOBF2=cb=2. \begin{aligned} \tan \angle ABO &= \frac{a}{b} = \sqrt{3}, \\ \tan \angle OBF_1 &= \tan \angle OBF_2 = \frac{c}{b} = \sqrt{2}. \end{aligned}
Therefore,

tanABF1tanABF2=tan(ABO+OBF1)tan(ABOOBF1)=3+2132321+32=15.\begin{aligned} & \tan \angle ABF_1 \cdot \tan \angle ABF_2 \\ &= \tan(\angle ABO + \angle OBF_1) \cdot \tan(\angle ABO - \angle OBF_1) \\ &= \frac{\sqrt{3} + \sqrt{2}}{1 - \sqrt{3} \cdot \sqrt{2}} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{3} - \sqrt{2}}{1 + \sqrt{3} \cdot \sqrt{2}} = -\frac{1}{5}. \end{aligned}

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.