Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

Let ABCABC be a triangle with AB=5AB = 5, BC=6BC = 6, CA=7CA = 7. Let DD be a point on ray ABAB beyond BB such that BD=7BD = 7, EE be a point on ray BCBC beyond CC such that CE=5CE = 5, and FF be a point on ray CACA beyond AA such that AF=6AF = 6. Compute the area of the circumcircle of DEFDEF.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Solution:

Let II be the incenter of ABCABC. We claim that II is the circumcenter of DEFDEF.

Figure 1

To prove this, let the incircle touch ABAB, BCBC, and ACAC at XX, YY, and ZZ, respectively. Noting that XB=BY=2XB = BY = 2, YC=CZ=4YC = CZ = 4, and ZA=AX=3ZA = AX = 3, we see that XD=YE=ZF=9XD = YE = ZF = 9. Thus, since IX=IY=IZ=rIX = IY = IZ = r (where rr is the inradius) and IXD=IYE=IZF=90\angle IXD = \angle IYE = \angle IZF = 90^{\circ}, we have three congruent right triangles, and so ID=IE=IFID = IE = IF, as desired.

Let s=5+6+72=9s = \frac{5 + 6 + 7}{2} = 9 be the semiperimeter. By Heron's formula, [ABC]=9(95)(96)(97)=66[ABC] = \sqrt{9(9-5)(9-6)(9-7)} = 6\sqrt{6}, so r=[ABC]s=263r = \frac{[ABC]}{s} = \frac{2\sqrt{6}}{3}. Then the area of the circumcircle of DEFDEF is

ID2π=(IX2+XD2)π=(r2+s2)π=2513π ID^2 \pi = (IX^2 + XD^2) \pi = (r^2 + s^2) \pi = \frac{251}{3} \pi

Solution 2

Solution:

Let DD' be a point on ray CBCB beyond BB such that BD=7BD' = 7, and similarly define EE', FF'. Noting that DA=EADA = E'A and AF=AFAF = AF', we see that DEFFDE'F'F is cyclic by power of a point. Similarly, EFDDEF'D'D and FDEEFD'E'E are cyclic. Now, note that the radical axes for the three circles circumscribing these quadrilaterals are the sides of ABCABC, which are not concurrent. Therefore, DDFFEEDD'FF'EE' is cyclic. We can deduce that the circumcenter of this circle is II in two ways: either by calculating that the midpoint of DED'E coincides with the foot from II to BCBC, or by noticing that the perpendicular bisector of FFFF' is AIAI. The area can then be calculated the same way as the previous solution.

Figure 2

ID2π=(IX2+XD2)π=(r2+s2)π=2513π ID^2 \pi = (IX^2 + XD^2) \pi = (r^2 + s^2) \pi = \frac{251}{3} \pi

Remark. The circumcircle of DEFDEF is the Conway circle of ABCABC.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.