Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.7 National olympiad Prove it

Given is a triangle ABCABC and a point DD on the line segment ACAC. Let MM be the midpoint of CDCD and let Ω\Omega be the circle through BB and DD that is tangent to ABAB. Let EE be the point such that MDBMBE\triangle M D B \sim \triangle M B E and such that DD and EE lie on opposite sides of the line MBMB.

Show that EE lies on Ω\Omega if and only if ABD=MBC\angle A B D = \angle M B C.
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Solution

We first prove that CMBDBE\triangle C M B \sim \triangle D B E. Since DD and EE lie on opposite sides of MBM B, it follows that DBE=DBM+MBE=DBM+MDB=CMB\angle D B E=\angle D B M+\angle M B E=\angle D B M+\angle M D B=\angle C M B due to the given similarity and the exterior angle theorem. Secondly, it holds that

DBBE=MDMB=CMMB \frac{|D B|}{|B E|}=\frac{|M D|}{|M B|}=\frac{|C M|}{|M B|}

due to the given similarity and the fact that MM is the midpoint of CDC D. By SAS, it indeed follows that CMBDBE\triangle C M B \sim \triangle D B E. In particular, this implies that BED=MBC\angle B E D = \angle M B C. Therefore, ABD=MBC\angle A B D = \angle M B C if and only if ABD=BED\angle A B D = \angle B E D. By the tangent-secant theorem, this holds if and only if ABA B is tangent to the circumcircle of BDE\triangle B D E. The circle through BB and DD that is tangent to ABA B is unique, with its center being the intersection of the perpendicular bisector of BDB D and the line through BB perpendicular to ABA B. Thus, ABA B is tangent to the circumcircle of BDE\triangle B D E if and only if EE lies on Ω\Omega. \square

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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.