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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National Olympiad Prove it Ireland

The three distinct points BB, CC, DD are collinear with CC between BB and DD. Another point AA not on the line BDBD is such that AB=AC=CD|AB| = |AC| = |CD|.
Prove that BAC=36\angle BAC = 36^\circ if and only if 1CD1BD=1CD+BD\frac{1}{|CD|} - \frac{1}{|BD|} = \frac{1}{|CD| + |BD|}.

Solution

Let α\alpha be the size of the angle CAD\angle CAD. Because AB=AC=CD|AB| = |AC| = |CD|, we have ABC=BCA=CAD+CDA=2CAD=2α\angle ABC = \angle BCA = \angle CAD + \angle CDA = 2\angle CAD = 2\alpha. Therefore, BAD=DBA\angle BAD = \angle DBA if and only if BAC=α\angle BAC = \alpha. On the other hand, because BAC=1804α\angle BAC = 180^\circ - 4\alpha, we see that BAC=α\angle BAC = \alpha if and only if α=36\alpha = 36^\circ. Therefore, it suffices to show that
1CD1BD=1CD+BDis equivalent toBAD=DBA. \frac{1}{|CD|} - \frac{1}{|BD|} = \frac{1}{|CD| + |BD|} \quad \text{is equivalent to} \quad \angle BAD = \angle DBA.

Figure 1

Because AB=AC=CD|AB| = |AC| = |CD| and CC is between BB and DD, the equation
1CD1BD=1CD+BDis equivalent to \frac{1}{|CD|} - \frac{1}{|BD|} = \frac{1}{|CD| + |BD|} \quad \text{is equivalent to}
1AB1BC+AB=1AB+BD,or \frac{1}{|AB|} - \frac{1}{|BC| + |AB|} = \frac{1}{|AB| + |BD|}, \quad \text{or}
BCAB(BC+AB)=1AB+BD,which simplifies to \frac{|BC|}{|AB|( |BC| + |AB|)} = \frac{1}{|AB| + |BD|}, \quad \text{which simplifies to}
BCBD=AB2, or equivalently, ABBD=BCAB. |BC| \cdot |BD| = |AB|^2, \text{ or equivalently, } \frac{|AB|}{|BD|} = \frac{|BC|}{|AB|}.
Because the triangles ABCABC and ABDABD have a common angle at BB, this last equation is equivalent to these two triangles being similar such that sides ABAB and BDBD in triangle ABDABD correspond to sides BCBC and ABAB in triangle ABCABC. Because ABC\triangle ABC is isosceles, this is equivalent to triangle BDABDA being isosceles with BAD=DBA\angle BAD = \angle DBA, which, as seen above, is equivalent to BAC=36\angle BAC = 36^\circ.

As usual, we let α=BAC\alpha = \angle BAC, β=ABC\beta = \angle ABC, a=BCa = |BC| and b=AC=AB=cb = |AC| = |AB| = c. Because CD=b|CD| = b and CC is between BB and DD, the equation
1CD1BD=1CD+BDis equivalent to \frac{1}{|CD|} - \frac{1}{|BD|} = \frac{1}{|CD| + |BD|} \quad \text{is equivalent to}
1b1a+b=1a+2borab(a+b)=1a+2b,which can be written as \frac{1}{b} - \frac{1}{a+b} = \frac{1}{a+2b} \quad \text{or} \quad \frac{a}{b(a+b)} = \frac{1}{a+2b}, \quad \text{which can be written as}
a(a+2b)=b(a+b), i.e. a2+ab=b2. Introducing x=a/b, we see now that a(a+2b) = b(a+b), \text{ i.e. } a^2 + ab = b^2. \text{ Introducing } x = a/b, \text{ we see now that}
1CD1BD=1CD+BDis equivalent tox2+x1=0. \frac{1}{|CD|} - \frac{1}{|BD|} = \frac{1}{|CD| + |BD|} \quad \text{is equivalent to} \quad x^2 + x - 1 = 0.

Because AA is not on BCBC, the triangle inequality implies 0<a<2b0 < a < 2b, hence 0<x<20 < x < 2. Therefore, 0(x2)(x+1)0 \neq (x-2)(x+1) and so x2+x1=0x^2+x-1=0 if and only if
0=(x2+x1)(x2)(x+1)=x44x2x+2. 0 = (x^2+x-1)(x-2)(x+1) = x^4 - 4x^2 - x + 2.

The Cosine Rule gives a2=2b22b2cos(α)a^2 = 2b^2 - 2b^2 \cos(\alpha) and b2=a2+b22abcos(β)b^2 = a^2 + b^2 - 2ab \cos(\beta), from which we obtain 2cos(α)=2x22 \cos(\alpha) = 2 - x^2 and 2cos(β)=x2 \cos(\beta) = x. Therefore, the equation (x22)22=x(x^2 - 2)^2 - 2 = x is equivalent to 4cos2(α)2=2cos(β)4 \cos^2(\alpha) - 2 = 2 \cos(\beta). Because 2cos2(α)1=cos(2α)2 \cos^2(\alpha) - 1 = \cos(2\alpha), the above is equivalent to cos(2α)=cos(β)\cos(2\alpha) = \cos(\beta).
We would like to conclude that β=2α\beta = 2\alpha. This follows as soon as we exclude that 3602α=β360^\circ - 2\alpha = \beta. But we know that α+2β=180\alpha + 2\beta = 180^\circ, hence 3602α=4β360^\circ - 2\alpha = 4\beta. Therefore, 3602α=β360^\circ - 2\alpha = \beta can only happen if β=0\beta = 0, which is excluded by the assumption that AA is not on BCBC. Therefore, we have shown that
1CD1BD=1CD+BDis equivalent toβ=2α. \frac{1}{|CD|} - \frac{1}{|BD|} = \frac{1}{|CD| + |BD|} \quad \text{is equivalent to} \quad \beta = 2\alpha.
From α+2β=180\alpha + 2\beta = 180^\circ we easily obtain that β=2α\beta = 2\alpha if and only if α=36\alpha = 36^\circ.

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