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IMO Team Selection Test 2, June, 2020

Geometry Difficulty 8.4 Shortlist Prove it Netherlands

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle and let PP be the intersection of the tangents in BB and CC to the circumcircle of △ABC\triangle ABC. The line through AA perpendicular to ABAB and the line through CC perpendicular to ACAC intersect in a point XX. The line through AA perpendicular to ACAC and the line through BB perpendicular to ABAB intersect in a point YY. Prove that AP⊥XYAP \perp XY.

Solution

Let MM be the circumcentre of △ABC\triangle ABC and let α=∠BAC\alpha = \angle BAC. We first show that △BYA∼△BMP\triangle BYA \sim \triangle BMP and then that △YBM∼△ABP\triangle YBM \sim \triangle ABP.

By the inscribed angle theorem we have ∠BMC=2∠BAC=2α\angle BMC = 2\angle BAC = 2\alpha. Quadrilateral PBMCPBMC is a kite with axis of symmetry PMPM (by the equality of radii ∣MB∣=∣MC∣|MB| = |MC| and equality of tangent segments ∣PB∣=∣PC∣|PB| = |PC|), so MPMP bisects angle ∠BMC\angle BMC. Therefore ∠BMP=12∠BMC=α\angle BMP = \frac{1}{2}\angle BMC = \alpha.

Moreover, we have ∠PBM=90∘\angle PBM = 90^\circ (tangent to a circle is perpendicular to its radius), so by the sum of angles of a triangle we have ∠MPB=90∘−α\angle MPB = 90^\circ - \alpha.

On the other hand, we are given that ∠ABY=90∘\angle ABY = 90^\circ and we also have ∠YAB=∠YAC−∠BAC=90∘−α\angle YAB = \angle YAC - \angle BAC = 90^\circ - \alpha. Therefore ∠ABY=∠PBM\angle ABY = \angle PBM and ∠YAB=∠MPB\angle YAB = \angle MPB, from which follows that △BYA∼△BMP\triangle BYA \sim \triangle BMP.

From this similarity it follows that ∣YB∣∣AB∣=∣MB∣∣PB∣\frac{|YB|}{|AB|} = \frac{|MB|}{|PB|}. Combining this with the equality of angles
∠YBM=∠YBA+∠ABM=90∘+∠ABM=∠ABM+∠MBP=∠ABP, \angle YBM = \angle YBA + \angle ABM = 90^\circ + \angle ABM = \angle ABM + \angle MBP = \angle ABP,
we see that △YBM∼△ABP\triangle YBM \sim \triangle ABP.

Let TT now be the intersection of APAP and YMYM, then we have
∠BYT=∠BYM=∠BAP=∠BAT, \angle BYT = \angle BYM = \angle BAP = \angle BAT,
from which it follows that BYATBYAT is a cyclic quadrilateral. Therefore ∠ATY=∠ABY=90∘\angle ATY = \angle ABY = 90^\circ, so AT⊥YMAT \perp YM. Analogously, AP⊥XMAP \perp XM. But from this it now follows that YMYM and XMXM coincide and we get that AP⊥XYAP \perp XY. □\square

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