Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /53 of 61

Geometry Difficulty 6.7 National Olympiad Prove it Ibero-American Mathematical Olympiad

Problem:

ABC\mathrm{ABC} is an acute-angled triangle with orthocenter H\mathrm{H}. AE\mathrm{AE} and BF\mathrm{BF} are altitudes. AE\mathrm{AE} is reflected in the angle bisector of angle A\mathrm{A} and BF\mathrm{BF} is reflected in the angle bisector of angle B\mathrm{B}. The two reflections intersect at O\mathrm{O}. The rays AE\mathrm{AE} and AO\mathrm{AO} meet the circumcircle of ABC\mathrm{ABC} at M\mathrm{M} and N\mathrm{N} respectively. P\mathrm{P} is the intersection of BC\mathrm{BC} and HN\mathrm{HN}, R\mathrm{R} is the intersection of BC\mathrm{BC} and OM\mathrm{OM}, and S\mathrm{S} is the intersection of HR\mathrm{HR} and OP\mathrm{OP}. Show that AHSO is a parallelogram.

Solution

Solution:

Figure 1
We show first that O\mathrm{O} is the circumcenter of ABC\mathrm{ABC}. ABF=90A\angle \mathrm{ABF} = 90^\circ - \mathrm{A}. The line BC\mathrm{BC} is the reflection in BDBD of the line BABA and the line BF\mathrm{BF}' is the reflection of BF\mathrm{BF}, so angle CBF=90A\mathrm{CBF}' = 90^\circ - \mathrm{A}. But if O\mathrm{O}' is the circumcenter, then BOC=2BAC=2A\angle \mathrm{BO}'\mathrm{C} = 2 \angle \mathrm{BAC} = 2\mathrm{A}, so OBC=90A\angle \mathrm{O}'\mathrm{BC} = 90^\circ - \mathrm{A}. Hence O\mathrm{O}' lies on BF\mathrm{BF}'. Similarly, it lies on AE\mathrm{AE}' (the reflection of AE\mathrm{AE} in the angle bisector of A\mathrm{A}). Hence O=O\mathrm{O} = \mathrm{O}'.

Figure 2
MBC=MAC=90C\angle \mathrm{MBC} = \angle \mathrm{MAC} = 90^\circ - \mathrm{C} (since AH\mathrm{AH} is an altitude) =FBC= \angle \mathrm{FBC} (since BF\mathrm{BF} is an altitude) =HBC= \angle \mathrm{HBC} (same angle). So triangles HBE and MBE are congruent and HE=EM\mathrm{HE} = \mathrm{EM}. [Note: this should be a familiar result.]
AN\mathrm{AN} is a diameter, so angle AMN=90=AEC\mathrm{AMN} = 90^\circ = \angle \mathrm{AEC}, so BC\mathrm{BC} and MN\mathrm{MN} are parallel. Hence P\mathrm{P} is the midpoint of HN\mathrm{HN} and of BC\mathrm{BC}. So OP\mathrm{OP} is perpendicular to BC\mathrm{BC}. So AH\mathrm{AH} and OS\mathrm{OS} are parallel.
Since R\mathrm{R} lies on BC\mathrm{BC}, triangles HER and MER are congruent, so EHR=EMR=AMO\angle \mathrm{EHR} = \angle \mathrm{EMR} = \angle \mathrm{AMO} (same angle) =MAO= \angle \mathrm{MAO}. Hence HS and AO are parallel. So AHSO is a parallelogram.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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