Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it

Let A,B,C,D,E,FA, B, C, D, E, F be points on a circle with AEBDA E \| B D and BCDFB C \| D F. By reflection across the line CEC E, the point DD is mapped to XX. Show that XX is as far from the line EFE F as BB is from ACA C.

Solution

All angles appearing below are to be understood as oriented and modulo 180180^{\circ}. This makes considerations of the relative positions of the involved points unnecessary. The feet of the perpendiculars from B,XB, X to AC,EFA C, E F are denoted by P,QP, Q.

Strategy. Show the congruence of triangles ABPABP and EXQEXQ. (*)
From this, BP=XQBP = XQ will immediately follow, and thus the claim will be proven. The proof of (*) itself proceeds in three steps using a known congruence theorem.

I. Since BPA EQX 90\text{BPA EQX 90}, both triangles are right-angled.
II. Because AEBDAE \| BD, the cyclic quadrilateral ABDEABDE is an isosceles trapezoid, and thus AB=DEAB = DE. Furthermore, DE=XEDE = XE by the construction of XX, and therefore AB=XEAB = XE, i.e., the hypotenuses are equal.
III. As before, we conclude from BCDFBC \| DF that BCDFBCDF is also an isosceles trapezoid. By repeated application of the inscribed angle theorem, we now get \text{} DEC + \text{} CAB \text{} DAC + \text{} CAB \text{} DAB \text{} DFB \text{} CDF \text{} CEF \text{} CEX + \text{} XEF. From DEC CEX\text{DEC CEX}, it follows that CAB XEF\text{CAB XEF}, or, in other words, - PAB XEQ\text{- PAB XEQ}.

Remark. Discussions of positional relationships have not been taken into account either positively or negatively in the evaluation.

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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.