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IRL ABooklet

Geometry Difficulty 6.7 National Olympiad Prove it Ireland

Let AA, BB, CC be three points on a circle Γ\Gamma, and let LL denote the midpoint of segment BCBC. The perpendicular bisector of BCBC intersects the circle Γ\Gamma at two points MM and NN, such that AA and MM are on different sides of line BCBC. Let SS denote the point where the segments BCBC and AMAM intersect. Line NSNS intersects the circumcircle of △ALM\triangle ALM at two points DD and EE, with DD lying in the interior of the circle Γ\Gamma.

a.
Prove that MM is the circumcentre of △BCD\triangle BCD.

b.
Prove that the circumcircles of △BCD\triangle BCD and △ADN\triangle ADN are tangent at DD.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

(a) By construction, MM, NN are on Γ=(ABC)\Gamma = (ABC) and DD, EE are on (ALM)(ALM). The circles Γ=(ABC)\Gamma = (ABC) and (BCD)(BCD) have radical axis BCBC, and the circles (ABC)(ABC) and (ALM)(ALM) have radical axis AMAM.
Since SS is the intersection of these two radical axes, this point is the radical centre of the three circles (ABC)(ABC), (BCD)(BCD) and (ALM)(ALM). Thus (BCD)(BCD) and (ALM)(ALM) have radical axis DSDS. Since DSDS intersects (ALM)(ALM) at DD and EE, it follows that EE is also on (BCD)(BCD).

Figure 1
Let ZZ be the intersection point of NANA and BCBC. Because MNMN is a perpendicular bisector of a chord of (ABC)(ABC), it is a diameter of this circle, hence ∠MAN=90∘\angle MAN = 90^\circ and so ∠ZAM=90∘\angle ZAM = 90^\circ.
Since MLML is the perpendicular bisector of BCBC, ∠ZLM=∠BLM=90∘\angle ZLM = \angle BLM = 90^\circ. Now ∠ZAM=∠ZLM=90∘\angle ZAM = \angle ZLM = 90^\circ implies that ZZ is on (ALM)(ALM) and MZMZ is a diameter of this circle.
Moreover, since MAMA is perpendicular to NZNZ and ZLZL is perpendicular to MNMN, as we have seen above, their intersection point SS is the orthocentre of △MNZ\triangle MNZ, hence NSNS is perpendicular to ZMZM. This means that ZMZM, being a diameter of (ALM)(ALM), is the perpendicular bisector of DEDE which is a common chord of (ALM)(ALM) and (BCD)(BCD). Because MNMN is the perpendicular bisector of BCBC it follows that MM is the centre of (BCD)(BCD).

(b) Because AMAM is perpendicular to ANAN and ZMZM is perpendicular to NENE, we have ∠AMZ=∠AND\angle AMZ = \angle AND. In (ALM)(ALM) we have ∠ADZ=∠AMZ\angle ADZ = \angle AMZ hence ZDZD is tangent to (ADN)(ADN) (the alternate segment theorem). As ZMZM is diameter of (ALM)(ALM), we have ∠MDZ=90∘\angle MDZ = 90^\circ, so ZDZD is also tangent to BCDBCD the centre of which was shown to be MM in part (a).

Figure 2

Solution 2

(a) Because MNMN is the perpendicular bisector of BCBC, MNMN is a diameter of (ABC)(ABC). Hence ∠MCN=90∘=∠MLC\angle MCN = 90^\circ = \angle MLC, and thus △MLC∼△MCN\triangle MLC \sim \triangle MCN, as they also share an angle at MM. Hence
∣ML∣∣MC∣=∣MC∣∣MN∣  ⟹  ∣MC∣2=∣ML∣⋅∣MN∣.(25) \frac{|ML|}{|MC|} = \frac{|MC|}{|MN|} \implies |MC|^2 = |ML| \cdot |MN|. \quad (25)
Also, the quadrilateral ANLSANLS is cyclic since ∠NAM=∠NLB=90∘\angle NAM = \angle NLB = 90^\circ. Since both ANLSANLS and ADLMADLM are cyclic, we have
∠LNS=∠LAM=∠LDM \angle LNS = \angle LAM = \angle LDM
and thus △MLD∼△MDN\triangle MLD \sim \triangle MDN (also sharing the angle at MM), which gives
∣ML∣∣MD∣=∣MD∣∣MN∣  ⟹  ∣MD∣2=∣ML∣⋅∣MN∣.(26) \frac{|ML|}{|MD|} = \frac{|MD|}{|MN|} \implies |MD|^2 = |ML| \cdot |MN|. \quad (26)
Equations (25) and (26) give ∣MD∣=∣MC∣|MD| = |MC|. As MM is on the perpendicular bisector of BCBC, we also have ∣MC∣=∣MB∣|MC| = |MB|, hence MM is the circumcentre of △BDC\triangle BDC.

(b) Let QQ be the circumcentre of △DNA\triangle DNA. It suffices to prove that QQ, DD, MM are collinear. On the one hand, for the circle (ADNADN):
∠QDN=90∘−12∠DQN=90∘−∠NAD=∠DAM.(27) \angle QDN = 90^\circ - \frac{1}{2} \angle DQN = 90^\circ - \angle NAD = \angle DAM. \quad (27)
On the other hand, the power of the point MM with respect to (SLNASLNA) gives
∣ML∣⋅∣MN∣=∣MS∣⋅∣MA∣,(28) |ML| \cdot |MN| = |MS| \cdot |MA|, \quad (28)
which together with equation (26) gives
∣MD∣2=∣MS∣⋅∣MA∣and so∣MS∣∣MD∣=∣MD∣∣MA∣,(29) |MD|^2 = |MS| \cdot |MA| \quad \text{and so} \quad \frac{|MS|}{|MD|} = \frac{|MD|}{|MA|}, \quad (29)
thus △MDA∼△MSD\triangle MDA \sim \triangle MSD, which implies
∠DAM=∠MDS.(30) \angle DAM = \angle MDS. \quad (30)
Finally equations (27) and (30) give ∠QDN=∠MDS\angle QDN = \angle MDS, hence MM, DD, QQ are collinear since NN, DD, SS are.

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