Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Let O O be the circumcenter of acute triangle ABC ABC. Point P P is in the interior of triangle AOB AOB. Let D,E,F D,E,F be the projections of P P on the sides BC,CA,AB BC,CA,AB, respectively. Prove that the parallelogram consisting of FE FE and FD FD as its adjacent sides lies inside triangle ABC ABC.

Solution

1. Let O O be the circumcenter of the acute triangle ABC ABC . This means O O is the point equidistant from all three vertices A A , B B , and C C of the triangle.
2. Point P P is in the interior of triangle AOB AOB . This implies that P P lies within the region bounded by the segments AO AO , BO BO , and AB AB .
3. Let D D , E E , and F F be the projections of P P on the sides BC BC , CA CA , and AB AB , respectively. This means D D , E E , and F F are the feet of the perpendiculars dropped from P P to the respective sides.
4. We need to prove that the parallelogram formed by FE FE and FD FD as its adjacent sides lies inside triangle ABC ABC .

To prove this, we will show that the angles formed by the sides of the parallelogram with the sides of the triangle are such that the parallelogram remains within the triangle.

5. Let BAC=α \angle BAC = \alpha , ABC=β \angle ABC = \beta , and ACB=γ \angle ACB = \gamma .
6. Let K K be the fourth vertex of the parallelogram FEKD FEKD . By the properties of a parallelogram, K K is determined such that FEDK FE \parallel DK and FDEK FD \parallel EK .

7. We need to show that AEF+FEK<180 \angle AEF + \angle FEK < 180^\circ and BDF+FDK<180 \angle BDF + \angle FDK < 180^\circ .

8. Consider the angle AEF \angle AEF . Since E E and F F are projections, AEF \angle AEF is related to the angles at P P and the angles of triangle ABC ABC .

9. We have:
90+OBP>90 90^\circ + \angle OBP > 90^\circ
This implies:
γ+PAF+OAP+OBP>90 \gamma + \angle PAF + \angle OAP + \angle OBP > 90^\circ
Therefore:
EAP+PBD=γ+OAP+OBP>90PAF=APF=AEF \angle EAP + \angle PBD = \gamma + \angle OAP + \angle OBP > 90^\circ - \angle PAF = \angle APF = \angle AEF
This leads to:
EFD>AEF \angle EFD > \angle AEF
Hence:
AEF+180EFD<180 \angle AEF + 180^\circ - \angle EFD < 180^\circ
Which simplifies to:
AEF+FEK<180 \angle AEF + \angle FEK < 180^\circ

10. Similarly, we can show that:
BDF+FDK<180 \angle BDF + \angle FDK < 180^\circ

11. Since both conditions are satisfied, the parallelogram FEKD FEKD lies inside triangle ABC ABC .

\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.