Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /337 of 520

Geometry Difficulty 6.7 National olympiad Prove it

Let ABCA B C be an acute triangle. Variable points EE and FF are on sides ACA C and ABA B respectively such that BC2=BABF+CECAB C^{2}=B A \cdot B F+C E \cdot C A. As EE and FF vary prove that the circumcircle of AEFA E F passes through a fixed point other than AA.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

1

Let HH be the orthocenter of ABCA B C and K,L,MK, L, M be the feet of the perpendiculars from A,B,CA, B, C to their opposite sides of ABCA B C. Also let DD be the intersection point of lines BEB E and CFC F. From the power of a point, we have

BABM=BCBK B A \cdot B M = B C \cdot B K

and

CACL=CBCK C A \cdot C L = C B \cdot C K

Adding (1) and (2) we have:

CACL+BABM=BCBK+CBCK=BC(BK+CK)=BC2 C A \cdot C L + B A \cdot B M = B C \cdot B K + C B \cdot C K = B C(B K + C K) = B C^2

Combining (3) with the problem statement BC2=BABF+CECAB C^2 = B A \cdot B F + C E \cdot C A we have:

BABFBABM=CACLCECABA(BFBM)=CA(CLCE)BAFM=CALELEFM=ABAC=BLCM \begin{aligned} & B A \cdot B F - B A \cdot B M = C A \cdot C L - C E \cdot C A \\ & B A(B F - B M) = C A(C L - C E) \\ & B A \cdot F M = C A \cdot L E \\ & \quad \frac{L E}{F M} = \frac{A B}{A C} = \frac{B L}{C M} \end{aligned}

!

Where the last equality follows from AMCALB\triangle A M C \sim \triangle A L B. Now since LEFM=BLCM\frac{L E}{F M} = \frac{B L}{C M} and FMC=ELB=90\angle F M C = \angle E L B = 90^{\circ}, we get that triangles FMCELB\triangle F M C \sim \triangle E L B. From this similarity we get

AED=AEB=LEB=MFC=180AFC=180AFD, \measuredangle A E D = \measuredangle A E B = \angle L E B = \measuredangle M F C = 180^{\circ} - \angle A F C = 180 - \angle A F D,

meaning points A,D,E,FA, D, E, F are concyclic.
Since both pairs {E,F}\{E, F\} and {M,L}\{M, L\} satisfy the problem condition, we must have this fixed point we are looking for is the second intersection of the circumcircles around AFDEA F D E and AMHLA M H L. Let this point be XX. We now prove that XX is fixed on the circumcircle of AMHLA M H L (which would imply XX is fixed).
From the concyclicity we have

XLE=180XLA=XMA=XMF and XEL=XEA=180XFA=XFM \angle X L E = 180^{\circ} - \measuredangle X L A = \measuredangle X M A = \angle X M F \text{ and } \measuredangle X E L = \measuredangle X E A = 180 - \measuredangle X F A = \measuredangle X F M

and from here we get XLEXMF\triangle X L E \sim \triangle X M F. This similarity gives us

XLXM=LEMF. \frac{X L}{X M} = \frac{L E}{M F}.

Now combining (4) and (5) we get XLXM=ABAC\frac{X L}{X M} = \frac{A B}{A C} which is a fixed quantity. Since points M,LM, L, the circumcircle of AMLA M L, and ratio XLXM\frac{X L}{X M} are fixed, this implies that point XX is fixed.

Solution 2

1. Given Condition and Setup:
We are given an acute triangle ABCABC with variable points EE and FF on sides ACAC and ABAB respectively such that:
BC2=BABF+CECA BC^2 = BA \cdot BF + CE \cdot CA
We need to prove that the circumcircle of AEF\triangle AEF passes through a fixed point other than AA.

2. Intersection of Circles:
Consider the circumcircles of AEB\triangle AEB and AFC\triangle AFC. Let these circles intersect BCBC at some point DD. This point DD is crucial as it helps in defining the positions of EE and FF.

3. **Inversion about Point AA:**
Perform an inversion about point AA with an arbitrary radius. Under this inversion, points BB, CC, EE, and FF map to points BB', CC', EE', and FF' respectively. The inversion transforms the circumcircles of AEB\triangle AEB and AFC\triangle AFC into lines passing through AA', the image of AA.

4. Cyclic Quadrilateral:
The inversion transforms the cyclic quadrilateral ABDCABDC into another cyclic quadrilateral ABDCA'B'D'C'. Here, AA', BB', and CC' are fixed points, while DD' is the image of the intersection point DD and is variable.

5. Intersection Points:
The points EE' and FF' are defined as:
E=ABCDandF=ACBD E' = A'B' \cap C'D' \quad \text{and} \quad F' = A'C' \cap B'D'
We need to show that the line EFE'F' passes through a fixed point.

6. **Pole of Line BCB'C':**
Let PP be the pole of the line BCB'C' with respect to the circumcircle of ABC\triangle A'B'C'. The pole PP is a fixed point because it depends only on the fixed points AA', BB', and CC'.

7. **Line EFE'F' Passing Through PP:**
It is a well-known result in projective geometry that the line EFE'F' passes through the pole PP of the line BCB'C' with respect to the circumcircle of ABC\triangle A'B'C'. Therefore, PP is the fixed point through which the line EFE'F' always passes.

8. Conclusion:
Since the line EFE'F' always passes through the fixed point PP, the original circumcircle of AEF\triangle AEF must pass through the fixed point corresponding to PP under the inversion.

\blacksquare

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.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.