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Geometry Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Asia Pacific Mathematics Olympiad (APMO)

Let ABCABC be a triangle with A<60\angle A < 60^{\circ}. Let XX and YY be the points on the sides ABAB and ACAC, respectively, such that CA+AX=CB+BXCA + AX = CB + BX and BA+AY=BC+CYBA + AY = BC + CY. Let PP be the point in the plane such that the lines PXPX and PYPY are perpendicular to ABAB and ACAC, respectively. Prove that BPC<120\angle BPC < 120^{\circ}.

Solution

Let II be the incenter of ABC\triangle ABC, and let the feet of the perpendiculars from II to ABAB and to ACAC be DD and EE, respectively. (Without loss of generality, we may assume that ACAC is the longest side. Then XX lies on the line segment ADAD. Although PP may or may not lie inside ABC\triangle ABC, the proof below works for both cases. Note that PP is on the line perpendicular to ABAB passing through XX.) Let OO be the midpoint of IPIP, and let the feet of the perpendiculars from OO to ABAB and to ACAC be MM and NN, respectively. Then MM and NN are the midpoints of DXDX and EYEY, respectively.

Figure 1

The conditions on the points XX and YY yield the equations
AX=AB+BCCA2andAY=BC+CAAB2. AX = \frac{AB + BC - CA}{2} \quad \text{and} \quad AY = \frac{BC + CA - AB}{2}.
From AD=AE=CA+ABBC2AD = AE = \frac{CA + AB - BC}{2}, we obtain
BD=ABAD=ABCA+ABBC2=AB+BCCA2=AX. BD = AB - AD = AB - \frac{CA + AB - BC}{2} = \frac{AB + BC - CA}{2} = AX.
Since MM is the midpoint of DXDX, it follows that MM is the midpoint of ABAB. Similarly, NN is the midpoint of ACAC. Therefore, the perpendicular bisectors of ABAB and ACAC meet at OO, that is, OO is the circumcenter of ABC\triangle ABC. Since BAC<60\angle BAC < 60^{\circ}, OO lies on the same side of BCBC as the point AA and
BOC=2BAC \angle BOC = 2 \angle BAC
We can compute BIC\angle BIC as follows:
BIC=180IBCICB=18012ABC12ACB=18012(ABC+ACB)=18012(180BAC)=90+12BAC \begin{aligned} \angle BIC &= 180^{\circ} - \angle IBC - \angle ICB = 180^{\circ} - \frac{1}{2} \angle ABC - \frac{1}{2} \angle ACB \\ &= 180^{\circ} - \frac{1}{2}(\angle ABC + \angle ACB) = 180^{\circ} - \frac{1}{2}(180^{\circ} - \angle BAC) = 90^{\circ} + \frac{1}{2} \angle BAC \end{aligned}
It follows from BAC<60\angle BAC < 60^{\circ} that
2BAC<90+12BAC, i.e., BOC<BIC. 2 \angle BAC < 90^{\circ} + \frac{1}{2} \angle BAC, \quad \text{ i.e., } \quad \angle BOC < \angle BIC.
From this it follows that II lies inside the circumcircle of the isosceles triangle BOCBOC because OO and II lie on the same side of BCBC. However, as OO is the midpoint of IPIP, PP must lie outside the circumcircle of triangle BOCBOC and on the same side of BCBC as OO. Therefore
BPC<BOC=2BAC<120. \angle BPC < \angle BOC = 2 \angle BAC < 120^{\circ}.

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