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Geometry Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it

10. G4 (GBR) For a triangle T=ABC T = ABC we take the point X X on the side (AB) (AB) such that AXXB=45 \frac{AX}{XB} = \frac{4}{5} , the point Y Y on the segment (CX) (CX) such that CY=2YX CY = 2YX , and, if possible, the point Z Z on the ray (CA (CA such that CXZ=180ABC \measuredangle CXZ = 180^\circ - \measuredangle ABC . We denote by Σ \Sigma the set of all triangles T T for which XYZ=45 \measuredangle XYZ = 45^\circ . Prove that all the triangles from Σ \Sigma are similar and find the measure of their smallest angle.

Solution

10. We use the following lemma. Lemma. Let ABCA B C be a triangle and XABX \in A B such that AX:XB=m:n\overrightarrow{A X}: \overrightarrow{X B}=m: n. Then (m+n)cotCXB=ncotAmcotB(m+n) \cot \angle C X B=n \cot A-m \cot B and mcotACX=m \cot \angle A C X= (n+m)cotC+ncotA(n+m) \cot C+n \cot A. Proof. Let CDC D be the altitude from CC and hh its length. Then using oriented segments we have AX=AD+DX=hcotAhcotCXBA X=A D+D X=h \cot A-h \cot \angle C X B and BX=BD+DX=hcotB+hcotCXBB X=B D+D X=h \cot B+h \cot \angle C X B. The first formula in the lemma now follows from nAX=mBXn \cdot A X=m \cdot B X. The second formula immediately follows from the first part applied to the triangle ACXA C X and the point XACX^{\prime} \in A C such that XXBCX X^{\prime} \| B C. Let us set cotA=x,cotB=y\cot A=x, \cot B=y, and cotC=z\cot C=z. Applying the second formula in the lemma to ABC\triangle A B C and the point XX, we obtain 4cotACX=4 \cot \angle A C X= 9z+5x9 z+5 x. Applying the first formula in the lemma to CXZ\triangle C X Z and the point YY and using XYZ=45\angle X Y Z=45^{\circ} and cotCXZ=y\cot \angle C X Z=-y, we obtain 3cotXYZ=3 \cot \angle X Y Z= cotACX2cotCXZ=9z+5x4+2y5x+8y+9z=12\cot \angle A C X-2 \cot \angle C X Z=\frac{9 z+5 x}{4}+2 y \Rightarrow 5 x+8 y+9 z=12. We now use the well-known relation for cotangents of a triangle xy+yz+x y+y z+ xz=1x z=1 to get 9=9(x+y)z+9xy=(x+y)(125x8z)+9xy=99=9(x+y) z+9 x y=(x+y)(12-5 x-8 z)+9 x y=9 \Rightarrow (4y+x3)2+9(x1)2=0x=1,y=12,z=13(4 y+x-3)^{2}+9(x-1)^{2}=0 \Rightarrow x=1, y=\frac{1}{2}, z=\frac{1}{3}. It follows that x,yx, y, and zz have fixed values, and hence all triangles TT in Σ\Sigma are similar, with their smallest angle AA having cotangent 1 and thus being equal to A=45\angle A=45^{\circ}.

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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.