Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it China

In an acute triangle ABCABC, point HH is the intersection point of altitude CECE to ABAB and altitude BDBD to ACAC. A circle with DEDE as its diameter intersects ABAB and ACAC at points FF and GG, respectively. FGFG and AHAH intersect at point KK. If BC=25BC = 25, BD=20BD = 20, and BE=7BE = 7, find the length of AKAK.

Solution

We know that ADB=AEC=90\angle ADB = \angle AEC = 90^\circ, therefore

ADBAEC, \triangle ADB \sim \triangle AEC,
and
ADAE=BDCE=ABAC(1) \frac{AD}{AE} = \frac{BD}{CE} = \frac{AB}{AC} \quad (1)
But BC=25BC = 25, BD=20BD = 20, and BE=7BE = 7, so CD=15CD = 15, and CE=24CE = 24. From (1), we obtain

Thus, point DD is the midpoint of the hypotenuse ACAC of AEC\triangle AEC, and
DE=12AC=15. DE = \frac{1}{2}AC = 15.

Circle with DEDE as its diameter, DFE=90\angle DFE = 90^\circ, we have
AF=12AE=9. AF = \frac{1}{2}AE = 9.
Since four points GG, FF, EE and DD are concyclic, and four points DD, EE, BB and CC are concyclic too, we get
AFG=ADE=ABC. \angle AFG = \angle ADE = \angle ABC.
Thus GFCBGF \parallel CB. Extend line AHAH to intersect BCBC at point PP, then
AKAP=AFAB(2) \frac{AK}{AP} = \frac{AF}{AB} \qquad (2)
Since HH is the orthocenter of ABC\triangle ABC, APBCAP \perp BC. From BA=BCBA = BC we have
AP=CE=24. AP = CE = 24.
Due to (2), we get

AK = \frac{AF \cdot AP}{AB} = \frac{9 \times 24}{25} = 8.64.

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