Initially, three non-collinear points, A, B, and C, are marked on the plane. You have a pencil and a double-edged ruler of width 1. Using them, you may perform the following operations: - Mark an arbitrary point in the plane. - Mark an arbitrary point on an already drawn line. - If two points P1 and P2 are marked, draw the line connecting P1 and P2. - If two non-parallel lines ℓ1 and ℓ2 are drawn, mark the intersection of ℓ1 and ℓ2. - If a line ℓ is drawn, draw a line parallel to ℓ that is at distance 1 away from ℓ (note that two such lines may be drawn).
Prove that it is possible to mark the orthocenter of ABC using these operations.
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Solution:
Claim 1. It is possible to draw internal/external angle bisectors. Proof. Let A, B, C be marked. To bisect ∠ABC, draw the parallel line to AB unit 1 away from it on the opposite side as C, and draw the parallel line to BC unit 1 away from it on the opposite side as A. Let these lines intersect at D. Then BD is the internal angle bisector of ∠ABC. We can construct external angle bisectors similarly by drawing the line on the same side as A for the second line instead.
Corollary 2. It is possible to mark the incenters and excenters of a triangle ABC. Proof. Draw in the internal/external bisectors of all three angles and intersect them.
Claim 3. It is possible to mark the midpoint of any segment AB. Proof. Let B and C be marked. Draw an arbitrary point A not on line BC. Draw a line parallel to BC unit 1 away from it on the opposite side as A, and let this line intersect AB at D and AC at E. Let BE and CD intersect at F, and let AF intersect BC at M. Then by Ceva's Theorem, M is the midpoint of BC.
Corollary 4. It is possible to mark the centroid of ABC. Proof. Draw the midpoint D of BC and the midpoint E of AC, and intersect AD with BE.
Claim 5. It is possible to draw the perpendicular bisector of any segment BC. Proof. Let B and C be marked. Draw an arbitrary point A not on line BC. Construct the incenter I and A-excenter IA of ABC. Draw the midpoint M of BC and midpoint N of IIA. By the incenter-excenter lemma, N is the midpoint of the arc B C not containing A, so MN is the perpendicular bisector of BC.
Corollary 6. It is possible to mark the circumcenter of ABC. Proof. Draw and intersect the perpendicular bisectors of BC and AC.
Claim 7. Given two marked points A and B, it is possible to mark the point C such that BC=21AB. Proof. Draw an arbitrary point D not on line AB. Draw the midpoint M of AD. Draw the midpoint M1 of BD and the midpoint M2 of MD, and let M1M2 intersect AB at C. Then M1M2∥BM and MM2=21MD=21AM, so BC=21AB.
Claim 8. Given two marked points A and B and any positive real number k such that 2k∈Z, it is possible to mark the point C such that BC=kAB. Proof. Note that by applying Claim 7 and marking the midpoint of AB, we can translate both A and B by 21AB. The claim now follows by applying this operation repeatedly.
To finish, take the given triangle ABC and mark its circumcenter O and centroid G. Note that its orthocenter H satisfies that GH=2OG, so applying Claim 8 to k=2 now finishes the problem.
Solution 2
Solution:
Start with Claims 1-3 of solution 1, allowing us to draw internal/external angle bisectors, in/excentres, and midpoints. We add one more claim.
Claim 9. Given a point P and a line ℓ1, it is possible to draw a line through P parallel to ℓ1. Proof. Draw the line ℓ2 on the opposite side of ℓ1 to P, a distance 1 away. Draw arbitrary lines PAB and PCD with A,C∈ℓ1, B,D∈ℓ2. Let E be the midpoint of AC, let F=PE∩ℓ2, and let Q=BE∩FC.
Since △QEC∼△QBF and △PAE∼△PBF, we have QBQE=BFEC=BFAE=PBPA so △BAE∼△BPQ. In particular, PQ is parallel to AE, as desired.
In triangle △ABC, draw the incentre I and A-excentre IA. Draw the midpoints D of BC and M of IIA. By the incentre-excentre lemma, M is on the perpendicular bisector of BC, so MD is perpendicular to BC. Finally, using Claim 9, we can draw a line through A that is perpendicular to BC. Repeat this for B and AC, and their intersection is the orthocentre of △ABC, as required.
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