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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

The quadrilateral ABCDABCD is inscribed in the circle kk. The lines ACAC and BDBD meet in EE and the lines ADAD and BCBC meet in FF. Show that the line through the incenters of ABE\triangle ABE and ABF\triangle ABF and the line through the incenters of CDE\triangle CDE and CDF\triangle CDF meet on kk.

Solution

Let Ie,If,Je,JfI_e, I_f, J_e, J_f be the incenters of ABE,ABF,CDE,CDF\triangle ABE, \triangle ABF, \triangle CDE, \triangle CDF, respectively. Let P=AIeBIfP = AI_e \cap BI_f, Q=AIfBIeQ = AI_f \cap BI_e, U=CJeDJfU = CJ_e \cap DJ_f, and V=CJfDJeV = CJ_f \cap DJ_e be the excenter of ABC\triangle ABC opposite to AA, the excenter of ABD\triangle ABD opposite to BB, the incenter of ACD\triangle ACD, and the incenter of BCD\triangle BCD, respectively.

We have APB=12AB^=AQB\angle APB = \frac{1}{2} \widehat{AB} = \angle AQB; therefore, ABPQABPQ is cyclic. Analogously, CDUVCDUV is cyclic.

We have APB=12AB^=UCV\angle APB = \frac{1}{2} \widehat{AB} = \angle UCV, AQB=12AB^=UDV\angle AQB = \frac{1}{2} \widehat{AB} = \angle UDV, APQ=ABQ=12AD^=UCD\angle APQ = \angle ABQ = \frac{1}{2} \widehat{AD} = \angle UCD, and BQP=BAP=12BC^=VDC\angle BQP = \angle BAP = \frac{1}{2} \widehat{BC} = \angle VDC. Therefore, the figures ABPQABPQ and UVCDUVCD are similar and identically oriented. Let TT be their center of similitude. (I.e., let TT be the fixed point of the unique similitude which maps A,B,P,QA, B, P, Q onto U,V,C,DU, V, C, D, respectively.)

We have TAQTUD\triangle TAQ \sim \triangle TUD; therefore, TAUTQD\triangle TAU \sim \triangle TQD and ATQ=(AU,QD)=12AD^=AIeQ\angle ATQ = \angle (AU, QD) = \frac{1}{2} \widehat{AD} = \angle AI_eQ. It follows that TT lies on the circumcircle of AIeQ\triangle AI_eQ. Analogously, TT lies on the circumcircle of BIeP,CJeV\triangle BI_eP, \triangle CJ_eV, and DJeU\triangle DJ_eU.

We have, then, ATB=ATIe+IeTB=AQB+APB=12AB^+12AB^=AB^\angle ATB = \angle ATI_e + \angle I_eTB = \angle AQB + \angle APB = \frac{1}{2} \widehat{AB} + \frac{1}{2} \widehat{AB} = \widehat{AB}, showing that TT lies on kk.

Figure 1

Let TIfIeT' \in I_f I_e so that IfAIfQ=IfIeIfT=IfBIfPI_f A \cdot I_f Q = I_f I_e \cdot I_f T' = I_f B \cdot I_f P. Then TT' is a point other than IeI_e which lies on the circumcircles of both AIeQ\triangle AI_eQ and BIeP\triangle BI_eP; therefore, TTT' \equiv T and TIeIfT \in I_e I_f.

Analogously, TJeJfT \in J_e J_f, and we are done.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.