Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 8.5 Shortlist Prove it Germany

Problem:

Let a circle KK and a line gg be given, which have no common point.
Furthermore, let AB\overline{AB} be the diameter of KK that is orthogonal to gg, where BB lies closer to gg than AA. Further, let an arbitrary point CC, different from AA and BB, be given on KK. The line ACAC meets gg in DD; the line DEDE is tangent to KK at EE, where BB and EE lie on the same side of ACAC. Finally, BEBE meets the line gg in the point FF and AFAF meets the circle KK, besides in AA, in the point GG.
Prove that the reflection point of GG with respect to the axis ABAB lies on the line CFCF.

Solution

Solution:

We denote the second point of intersection of CFCF and KK by HH and the point of intersection of ABAB and gg by XX. Since ABgAB \perp g, it suffices to show that GHgGH \parallel g. This is precisely the case when AGH=AFD\angle AGH = \angle AFD. The inscribed angle theorem and vertical angles give AGH=ACH=DCF\angle AGH = \angle ACH = \angle DCF; hence it remains to show DCF=AFD\angle DCF = \angle AFD. Since the triangles DFCDFC and ADFADF share an angle at DD, it only remains to prove their (opposite-sense) similarity. This holds precisely when DCDF=DFDA\frac{|DC|}{|DF|} = \frac{|DF|}{|DA|},
i.e. DF2=DADC|DF|^2 = |DA| \cdot |DC|. However, by the tangent-secant theorem we have DE2=DADC|DE|^2 = |DA| \cdot |DC|, so it only remains to show DE=DF|DE| = |DF|, which is equivalent to DEF=EFD\angle DEF = \angle EFD.

Since FXB=AEB=90\angle FXB = \angle AEB = 90^\circ, AEXFAEXF is a cyclic quadrilateral and we have EFX=EAB\angle EFX = \angle EAB. The equality of the tangent-chord angles gives DEF=EAB\angle DEF = \angle EAB, from which DEF=EFD\angle DEF = \angle EFD follows.

Figure 1

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from de; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.