Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.1 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Let YY and ZZ be the feet of the altitudes of a triangle ABCABC drawn from angles BB and CC, respectively. Let UU and VV be the feet of the perpendiculars from YY and ZZ on the straight line BCBC. The straight lines YVYV and ZUZU intersect at a point LL. Prove that ALBCAL \perp BC.

Solution

1. Identify the given elements and their properties:
- Let Y Y and Z Z be the feet of the altitudes from B B and C C respectively in triangle ABC ABC .
- Let U U and V V be the feet of the perpendiculars from Y Y and Z Z to the line BC BC .
- The lines YV YV and ZU ZU intersect at point L L .

2. **Establish the orthogonality of AL AL and BC BC :**
- We need to prove that ALBC AL \perp BC .

3. Use properties of the orthocenter and cyclic quadrilaterals:
- Note that Y Y and Z Z are the feet of the altitudes, so AYBC AY \perp BC and AZBC AZ \perp BC .
- Since U U and V V are the feet of the perpendiculars from Y Y and Z Z to BC BC , quadrilaterals BYUV BYUV and CZUV CZUV are cyclic.

4. Apply the properties of cyclic quadrilaterals:
- In cyclic quadrilateral BYUV BYUV , the opposite angles are supplementary. Therefore, BYU+BVU=180\angle BYU + \angle BVU = 180^\circ.
- Similarly, in cyclic quadrilateral CZUV CZUV , CZV+CUV=180\angle CZV + \angle CUV = 180^\circ.

5. **Analyze the intersection point L L :**
- Since YV YV and ZU ZU intersect at L L , we need to show that L L lies on the altitude from A A to BC BC .

6. Use the properties of the orthocenter:
- The orthocenter H H of triangle ABC ABC is the intersection of the altitudes. Since Y Y and Z Z are the feet of the altitudes, H H lies on AY AY and AZ AZ .
- The point L L is the intersection of YV YV and ZU ZU , which are perpendicular to BC BC at U U and V V respectively.

7. Conclude the proof:
- Since L L is the intersection of the perpendiculars from Y Y and Z Z to BC BC , and these perpendiculars are part of the cyclic quadrilaterals BYUV BYUV and CZUV CZUV , L L must lie on the altitude from A A to BC BC .
- Therefore, ALBC AL \perp BC .

\blacksquare

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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.