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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Find the answer

The midpoint of segment ABAB is CC. On one side of line ABAB, we draw a semicircle over ACAC and BCBC, and we draw arcs with radius ABAB around AA and BB, the intersection point of the latter being DD. Construct a tangent circle inscribed in the cyclic quadrilateral ACBDACBD.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

I. solution. The center OO of the sought circle kk lies on the segment CDCD, because kk externally touches the equal-radius semicircles AC=k1AC = k_1 and CB=k2CB = k_2, and internally touches the equal-radius arcs BD=k3BD = k_3 and AD=k4AD = k_4. Therefore, OO is equidistant from the midpoints A1A_1 and B1B_1 of the diameters ACAC and CBCB, respectively, and from points AA and BB. The perpendicular bisectors of segments A1B1A_1B_1 and ABAB coincide: the line CDCD. This is also the axis of symmetry of the arc quadrilateral, so to more precisely determine OO, it is sufficient to ensure that kk touches one of the semicircles and one of the arcs k3k_3 or k4k_4, from which it follows that it touches all four arcs.

!

Let kk touch k1k_1 at T1T_1 and k4k_4 at T4T_4, denote its radius by rr, and take the segment AA1AA_1 as the unit length (Figure 1). Then OA1=OT1+T1A1=r+1OA_1 = OT_1 + T_1A_1 = r + 1, OB=BT4OT4=4rOB = BT_4 - OT_4 = 4 - r. Expressing OCOC in two ways from the right triangles OA1COA_1C and OBCOBC, we get a one-variable equation for rr:

OC2=(r+1)212=(4r)222 OC^2 = (r + 1)^2 - 1^2 = (4 - r)^2 - 2^2

from which r=6/5r = 6/5.

This segment can be constructed in several ways using proportional division. It is convenient to use the fact that segment ABAB is divided into 4 equal parts. Let the reflection of CC and B1B_1 over BB be CC' and B1B_1', respectively, so AC=6AC' = 6 and AB1=5AB_1' = 5; measure the segments AA1AA_1 and AB1AB_1' from a point AA on an arbitrary ray, let the endpoints be A1A_1'' and B1B_1'', respectively, and finally cut the line ABAB with the line parallel to B1CB_1''C' through A1A_1'' at point FF. Then AF=6/5=rAF = 6/5 = r. Furthermore, BF=4r=BOBF = 4 - r = BO, so OO can be found by intersecting the circle with radius BFBF centered at BB with CDCD.

kk indeed touches k4k_4 because BO+r=BF+FA=BABO + r = BF + FA = BA, the radius of k4k_4, and also k1k_1 because

OA12=OC2+CA12=BO2BC2+CA12=(14/5)24+1=121/25 OA_1^2 = OC^2 + CA_1^2 = BO^2 - BC^2 + CA_1^2 = (14/5)^2 - 4 + 1 = 121/25

OA1=11/5OA_1 = 11/5 and this is equal to the sum of the radii of kk and k1k_1. - Only one suitable circle can be constructed.

György Pásztor (Szeged, Petőfi-telepi I. sz. ált. isk. VII. o. t.)

II. solution. Thinking of the method of circle inversion, consider the circle kk^* concentric with kk that passes through A1A_1 and B1B_1 (Figure 2). Its radius is r+AA1r + AA_1, so it touches the circle kk' with radius AB+AA1AB + AA_1 centered at AA. Therefore, OO can also be found as the center of the circle passing through A1A_1 and B1B_1 and touching kk'. Let the point of tangency be TT, and the intersection of the common tangent of kk^* and kk' with A1B1A_1B_1 be GG.

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GG can be determined as follows. Consider a helper circle ksk_s that passes through A1A_1 and B1B_1 and intersects kk' at one of its common points, HH. Let the second intersection of line GHGH with kk' be LL, and with ksk_s be MM. We will show that LL and MM coincide, and thus are the same as the second common point of kk' and ksk_s, JJ. Apply the known theorem for a secant and a tangent from a point outside a circle first to kk^* and GG

GT2=GA1GB1 GT^2 = GA_1 \cdot GB_1

then to kk' and GG

GLGH=GT2 GL \cdot GH = GT^2

and finally to the two secants of ksk_s from GG, with the tangent GNGN from GG inserted

GA1GB1=GN2=GMGH GA_1 \cdot GB_1 = GN^2 = GM \cdot GH

From these, GLGH=GMGHGL \cdot GH = GM \cdot GH, so GL=GMGL = GM, and this proves our statement.

Therefore, GG is the intersection of the line HJHJ connecting the intersection points of kk' and ksk_s with ABAB, and TT can be found by intersecting the Thales circle with diameter GAGA above GG with kk'. OO can then be

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.