Let be a triangle with side lengths that are positive integers and pairwise relatively prime. The tangent at to the circumcircle intersects the line at . Prove that is not an integer.
!
Solution
There are two possible configurations. Without loss of generality, assume that lies between and . Let , and . By the tangent-secant angle theorem, , so , hence , or . From this, we get and , so also and . Combining these gives , or .
Now assume for the sake of contradiction that is an integer. Then is a divisor of . But we know , so also . Therefore, must be a divisor of . This implies . Note that since ; thus, as well. Therefore, because and are positive integers. Hence, , which contradicts the triangle inequality. Therefore, cannot be an integer.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.