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Geometry Difficulty 7.3 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Romania

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle, let D,E,FD, E, F be the feet of the altitudes from A,B,CA, B, C, respectively, and let M,N,PM, N, P be the midpoints of the sides BC,CA,ABBC, CA, AB, respectively. The circles BDPBDP and CDNCDN cross again at XX, the circles CEMCEM and AEPAEP cross again at YY, and the circles AFNAFN and BFMBFM cross again at ZZ. Prove that the lines AX,BY,CZAX, BY, CZ are concurrent.

Solution

Clearly, it is sufficient to prove that AXAX is the AA-symmedian of the triangle ABCABC. To this end, we show that the triangles XABXAB and XCAXCA are similar. It then follows that the line AXAX bisects the angle BXCBXC, and XB/XC=AB2/AC2XB/XC = AB^2/AC^2, so AXAX is indeed the AA-symmedian of the triangle ABCABC.
To prove similarity, we first show that the quadrangle ANXPANXP is cyclic. By the preceding, DXP=180PBD\angle DXP = 180^\circ - \angle PBD, and NXD=180DCN\angle NXD = 180^\circ - \angle DCN, so
PXN=360DXPNXD=360(180PBD)(180DCN)=PBD+DCN=ABC+BCA=180CAB=180NAP, \begin{align*} \angle PXN &= 360^\circ - \angle DXP - \angle NXD = 360^\circ - (180^\circ - \angle PBD) - \\ & \quad (180^\circ - \angle DCN) \\ &= \angle PBD + \angle DCN = \angle ABC + \angle BCA = 180^\circ - \angle CAB \\ &= 180^\circ - \angle NAP, \end{align*}
showing that the quadrangle ANXPANXP is indeed cyclic.

Alternative Solution. As in the previous solution, we show that AXAX is the A-symmedian of the triangle ABCABC.
To this end, invert from AA with power ABACAB \cdot AC. The images of B,C,D,N,PB, C, D, N, P and XX under this inversion are located as follows:
(1) The image of BB is the point BB' on the ray ABAB emanating from AA such that AB=ACAB' = AC; similarly, the image of CC is the point CC' on the ray ACAC emanating from AA such that AC=ABAC' = AB, so the triangles ABCABC and ACBAC'B' are reflexions of one another in their common internal A-bisectrix;
(2) The image of DD is the antipode DD' of AA in the circle ABCAB'C', since
AD=ABACAD=ABACBC2area ABC=ACABBC2area ACB AD' = \frac{AB \cdot AC}{AD} = \frac{AB \cdot AC \cdot BC}{2 \cdot \text{area } ABC} = \frac{AC' \cdot AB' \cdot B'C'}{2 \cdot \text{area } AC'B'}
which is the diameter of the circle ACBAC'B';
(3) The images NN' and PP' of NN and PP, respectively, are the reflexions of AA across CC' and BB', respectively; and
(4) Since the angles ABDAB'D' and ACDAC'D' are both right, by (2), and BB' and CC' are the midpoints of the segments APAP' and ANAN', respectively, by (3), DD' is the centre of the circle ANPAN'P', so the image of XX is the midpoint XX' of the segment NPN'P'.
Finally, since BCB'C' and NPN'P' are parallel, the line AXXAXX' also bisects the segment BCB'C', and since the triangles ABCABC and ACBAC'B' are reflexions of one another in their common internal A-bisectrix, it is indeed the A-symmedian of the triangle ABCABC.

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