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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Find the answer

Let ABCA B C be an acute triangle, and let MM be the midpoint of ACA C. A circle ω\omega passing through BB and MM meets the sides ABA B and BCB C again at PP and QQ, respectively. Let TT be the point such that the quadrilateral BPTQB P T Q is a parallelogram. Suppose that TT lies on the circumcircle of the triangle ABCA B C. Determine all possible values of BT/BMB T / B M. (Russia) Answer. 2\sqrt{2}.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Let SS be the center of the parallelogram BPTQB P T Q, and let BBB^{\prime} \neq B be the point on the ray BMB M such that BM=MBB M=M B^{\prime} (see Figure 1). It follows that ABCBA B C B^{\prime} is a parallelogram. Then, ABB=PQM\angle A B B^{\prime}=\angle P Q M and BBA=BBC=MPQ\angle B B^{\prime} A=\angle B^{\prime} B C=\angle M P Q, and so the triangles ABBA B B^{\prime} and MQPM Q P are similar. It follows that AMA M and MSM S are corresponding medians in these triangles. Hence,
SMP=BAM=BCA=BTA. \angle S M P=\angle B^{\prime} A M=\angle B C A=\angle B T A.
Since ACT=PBT\angle A C T=\angle P B T and TAC=TBC=BTP\angle T A C=\angle T B C=\angle B T P, the triangles TCAT C A and PBTP B T are similar. Again, as TMT M and PSP S are corresponding medians in these triangles, we have
MTA=TPS=BQP=BMP. \angle M T A=\angle T P S=\angle B Q P=\angle B M P.
Now we deal separately with two cases. Case 1. S\quad S does not lie on BMB M. Since the configuration is symmetric between AA and CC, we may assume that SS and AA lie on the same side with respect to the line BMB M.
Applying (1) and (2), we get
BMS=BMPSMP=MTABTA=MTB, \angle B M S=\angle B M P-\angle S M P=\angle M T A-\angle B T A=\angle M T B,
and so the triangles BSMB S M and BMTB M T are similar. We now have BM2=BSBT=BT2/2B M^{2}=B S \cdot B T=B T^{2} / 2, so BT=2BMB T=\sqrt{2} B M. Case 2. S\quad S lies on BMB M. It follows from (2) that BCA=MTA=BQP=BMP\angle B C A=\angle M T A=\angle B Q P=\angle B M P (see Figure 2). Thus, PQACP Q \| A C and PMATP M \| A T. Hence, BS/BM=BP/BA=BM/BTB S / B M=B P / B A=B M / B T, so BT2=2BM2B T^{2}=2 B M^{2} and BT=2BMB T=\sqrt{2} B M. !
Figure 1 !
Figure 2
Comment 1. Here is another way to show that the triangles BSMB S M and BMTB M T are similar. Denote by Ω\Omega the circumcircle of the triangle ABCA B C. Let RR be the second point of intersection of ω\omega and Ω\Omega, and let τ\tau be the spiral similarity centered at RR mapping ω\omega to Ω\Omega. Then, one may show that τ\tau maps each point XX on ω\omega to a point YY on Ω\Omega such that B,XB, X, and YY are collinear (see Figure 3). If we let KK and LL be the second points of intersection of BMB M with Ω\Omega and of BTB T with ω\omega, respectively, then it follows that the triangle MKTM K T is the image of SMLS M L under τ\tau. We now obtain BSM=TMB\angle B S M=\angle T M B, which implies the desired result. !
Figure 3 !
Figure 4

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