Maths Olympiad Prep

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IMO, 2009

Geometry Difficulty 8.9 Shortlist Prove it United States

Let △ABC\triangle ABC be a triangle with AB=ACAB = AC. The angle bisectors of ∠CAB\angle CAB and ∠ABC\angle ABC meet the sides BCBC and CACA at DD and EE, respectively. Let KK be the incenter of triangle ADCADC. Suppose that ∠BEK=45∘\angle BEK = 45^\circ. Find all possible values of ∠CAB\angle CAB.

(This problem was suggested by Peter Vandendriessche and Jan Vonk from Belgium and by Hojoo Lee from South Korea.)

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Let E1E_1 be the reflection of EE across the line CICI. Because CICI is the angle bisector of ∠BCA\angle BCA, E1E_1 lies on ray CBCB. We consider two cases.

In the first case, we assume that E1=DE_1 = D. Then CDIECDIE is a kite with CICI as the symmetry axis. In particular, ∠IEC=∠IDC=90∘\angle IEC = \angle IDC = 90^\circ; that is, BEBE is also an altitude of triangle ABCABC, implying that AB=BC=CAAB = BC = CA or ∠BAC=60∘\angle BAC = 60^\circ. (See the left-hand side figure shown below.)

In the second case, we assume that ∠D≠E1\angle D \neq E_1. By symmetry, ∠IE1K=∠IEK=45∘=∠IDK\angle IE_1K = \angle IEK = 45^\circ = \angle IDK, from which it follows that I,D,E1,KI, D, E_1, K lie on a circle. Hence either ∠IKE=∠IDE1=90∘\angle IKE = \angle IDE_1 = 90^\circ or ∠IKE1=180∘−∠IDE=90∘\angle IKE_1 = 180^\circ - \angle IDE = 90^\circ; that is, ∠IKE1=90∘\angle IKE_1 = 90^\circ. Therefore, we deduce the right-hand side figure shown below. In cyclic quadrilateral, we have ∠KIE1=∠KDE1=∠KDC=45∘\angle KIE_1 = \angle KDE_1 = \angle KDC = 45^\circ. By symmetry, we have ∠EIK=∠KIE1=45∘\angle EIK = \angle KIE_1 = 45^\circ, from which it follows that ∠IBC=∠ICB=22.5∘\angle IBC = \angle ICB = 22.5^\circ and ∠BAC=90∘\angle BAC = 90^\circ.

Figure 1

Solution 2

Set ∠ABC=∠BCA=2x\angle ABC = \angle BCA = 2x, with 0∘<x<45∘0^\circ < x < 45^\circ. Then ∠EIK=2x\angle EIK = 2x, ∠ECK=∠DCK=x\angle ECK = \angle DCK = x, and ∠CEK=135∘−x\angle CEK = 135^\circ - x.

It is clear that CIDCID is a right triangle, and, by the angle-bisector theorem, we have
IKKC=IDDCorIKKC=sin⁡xcos⁡x. \frac{IK}{KC} = \frac{ID}{DC} \quad \text{or} \quad \frac{IK}{KC} = \frac{\sin x}{\cos x}.
Applying the law of sines in triangles EIKEIK and CEKCEK gives
sin⁡45∘IK=sin⁡2xEKandKCsin⁡(135∘−3x)=EKsin⁡x. \frac{\sin 45^\circ}{IK} = \frac{\sin 2x}{EK} \quad \text{and} \quad \frac{KC}{\sin(135^\circ - 3x)} = \frac{EK}{\sin x}.
Multiplying the last three equations yields
sin⁡45∘sin⁡(135∘−3x)=sin⁡2xcos⁡x=2sin⁡xorsin⁡45∘=2sin⁡xsin⁡(135∘−3x). \frac{\sin 45^\circ}{\sin(135^\circ - 3x)} = \frac{\sin 2x}{\cos x} = 2 \sin x \quad \text{or} \quad \sin 45^\circ = 2 \sin x \sin(135^\circ - 3x).
By the addition-subtraction formulas, we obtain
sin⁡45∘=2sin⁡xsin⁡(135∘−3x)=2sin⁡x(sin⁡135∘cos⁡3x−cos⁡135∘sin⁡3x), \sin 45^\circ = 2 \sin x \sin(135^\circ - 3x) = 2 \sin x(\sin 135^\circ \cos 3x - \cos 135^\circ \sin 3x),
hence 1=2sin⁡x(cos⁡3x+sin⁡3x)1 = 2 \sin x(\cos 3x + \sin 3x). By the product-to-sum formulas and the double-angle formulas, we have
1=2sin⁡x(cos⁡3x+sin⁡3x)=2sin⁡xcos⁡3x+2sin⁡xsin⁡3x=sin⁡4x−sin⁡2x+cos⁡2x−cos⁡4x=2sin⁡2xcos⁡2x−sin⁡2x+cos⁡2x−2cos⁡22x+1=1+(2cos⁡x−1)(sin⁡2x−cos⁡2x); \begin{aligned} 1 &= 2 \sin x(\cos 3x + \sin 3x) = 2 \sin x \cos 3x + 2 \sin x \sin 3x \\ &= \sin 4x - \sin 2x + \cos 2x - \cos 4x \\ &= 2 \sin 2x \cos 2x - \sin 2x + \cos 2x - 2 \cos^2 2x + 1 \\ &= 1 + (2 \cos x - 1)(\sin 2x - \cos 2x); \end{aligned}
that is, we obtain (2cos⁡x−1)(sin⁡2x−cos⁡2x)=0(2 \cos x - 1)(\sin 2x - \cos 2x) = 0. Because 0∘<x<45∘0^\circ < x < 45^\circ, the possible values of xx are x=30∘x = 30^\circ (corresponding to 2cos⁡x−1=02 \cos x - 1 = 0) and x=22.5∘x = 22.5^\circ (corresponding to sin⁡2x−cos⁡2x=0\sin 2x - \cos 2x = 0), leading to ∠CAB=60∘\angle CAB = 60^\circ and ∠CAB=90∘\angle CAB = 90^\circ, respectively.

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