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China Mathematical Competition

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 AF1→⋅AF2→+BF1→⋅BF2→=0\overrightarrow{AF_1} \cdot \overrightarrow{AF_2} + \overrightarrow{BF_1} \cdot \overrightarrow{BF_2} = 0, then find the value of tan⁡∠ABF1⋅tan⁡∠ABF2\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=a2−b2c = \sqrt{a^2 - b^2}.
By the given conditions, we know that
AF1→⋅AF2→+BF1→⋅BF2→=(−c−a)(c−a)+(−c2+b2)=a2+b2−2c2=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+b2−2c2=−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
tan⁡∠ABO=ab=3,tan⁡∠OBF1=tan⁡∠OBF2=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,

tan⁡∠ABF1⋅tan⁡∠ABF2=tan⁡(∠ABO+∠OBF1)⋅tan⁡(∠ABO−∠OBF1)=3+21−3⋅2⋅3−21+3⋅2=−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}

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