Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it

Example 1 Two circles are externally tangent at point AA and internally tangent to another circle T\odot T at points BB and CC. Let DD be the midpoint of the chord of T\odot T cut by the common internal tangent of the smaller circles. Prove: When points BB, CC, and DD are not collinear, AA is the incenter of BCD\triangle BCD.
(2002, Turkish Mathematical Olympiad)

Solution

Prove: With AA as the inversion center and rr (where rr is any real number) as the inversion radius, the inversion of Figure 4 results in Figure 5.

Among them, T1\odot T_{1} and T2\odot T_{2} become two parallel lines T1T_{1}^{\prime} and T2T_{2}^{\prime}, T\odot T becomes a circle T\odot T^{\prime} tangent to the two parallel lines, the tangent line MNMN inverts to a line parallel to the line TtT_{\mathrm{t}}^{\prime}, and point DD^{\prime} is outside T\odot T^{\prime}.

To prove that AA is the incenter of BCD\triangle BCD, it is sufficient to show that the distances from point AA to BCBC, CDCD, and BDBD are equal, and that AA is inside BCD\triangle BCD, i.e., the circumradii of ABC\triangle AB^{\prime}C^{\prime}, ABD\triangle AB^{\prime}D^{\prime}, and ACD\triangle AC^{\prime}D^{\prime} are equal.
By the Law of Sines, it is sufficient to prove that
ABC=ADC\angle AB^{\prime}C^{\prime} = \angle AD^{\prime}C^{\prime}, ACB=ADB\angle AC^{\prime}B^{\prime} = \angle AD^{\prime}B^{\prime}.
Let MNM^{\prime}N^{\prime} intersect BCB^{\prime}C^{\prime} at point PP. By the power of a point theorem, we have
(AM+AN2)2AD2=AMAN\left(\frac{AM + AN}{2}\right)^{2} - AD^{2} = AM \cdot AN,

i.e., \square
14(AM+ANAMAN)2(1AD)2=1AMAN\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{AM^{\prime} + AN^{\prime}}{AM^{\prime} \cdot AN^{\prime}}\right)^{2} - \left(\frac{1}{AD^{\prime}}\right)^{2} = \frac{1}{AM^{\prime} \cdot AN^{\prime}}.
Thus, (AMAN2AMAN)2=(1AD)2\left(\frac{AM^{\prime} - AN^{\prime}}{2AM^{\prime} \cdot AN^{\prime}}\right)^{2} = \left(\frac{1}{AD^{\prime}}\right)^{2}.
Then AD=2AMANAMAN=AMANAPAD^{\prime} = \frac{2AM^{\prime} \cdot AN^{\prime}}{AM^{\prime} - AN^{\prime}} = \frac{AM^{\prime} \cdot AN^{\prime}}{AP}.
Therefore, ADAP=AMANAD^{\prime} \cdot AP = AM^{\prime} \cdot AN^{\prime}.
Hence, APDP=AMAN+AP2AP \cdot D^{\prime}P = AM^{\prime} \cdot AN^{\prime} + AP^{2}
=MPNP=BPCP= M^{\prime}P \cdot N^{\prime}P = B^{\prime}P \cdot C^{\prime}P.
Thus, APPB=PCPD\frac{AP}{PB^{\prime}} = \frac{PC^{\prime}}{PD^{\prime}}, i.e.,
tanABC=tanADC\tan \angle AB^{\prime}C^{\prime} = \tan \angle AD^{\prime}C^{\prime}.
Since ABC\angle AB^{\prime}C^{\prime} and ADC(0,π2)\angle AD^{\prime}C^{\prime} \in \left(0, \frac{\pi}{2}\right), then
ABC=ADC\angle AB^{\prime}C^{\prime} = \angle AD^{\prime}C^{\prime}.
Similarly, ACB=ADB\angle AC^{\prime}B^{\prime} = \angle AD^{\prime}B^{\prime}.

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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.