Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /290 of 520

Geometry Difficulty 7.0 National olympiad Prove it

A point P P in the interior of triangle ABC ABC satisfies

BPC BAC CPA CBA APB ACB.\text{BPC BAC CPA CBA APB ACB.}

Prove that PA BC PB AC PC AB .\text{PA BC PB AC PC AB .}

Solution

1. Let DEF DEF be the pedal triangle of point P P with respect to triangle ABC ABC . The pedal triangle is formed by dropping perpendiculars from P P to the sides BC BC , CA CA , and AB AB , and letting the feet of these perpendiculars be D D , E E , and F F respectively.

2. Given the condition:
BPCBAC=CPACBA=APBACB \angle BPC - \angle BAC = \angle CPA - \angle CBA = \angle APB - \angle ACB
we need to show that DEF DEF is an equilateral triangle.

3. Consider the angles:
EDF=PBA+PCA=BPCPAC \angle EDF = \angle PBA + \angle PCA = \angle BPC - \angle PAC
Similarly, we can express:
DEF=PCA+APB=CPAPBA \angle DEF = \angle PCA + \angle APB = \angle CPA - \angle PBA
and
EFD=APB+PBA=APBPCA \angle EFD = \angle APB + \angle PBA = \angle APB - \angle PCA

4. From the given conditions, we have:
BPCBAC=CPACBA=APBACB \angle BPC - \angle BAC = \angle CPA - \angle CBA = \angle APB - \angle ACB
This implies that:
EDF=DEF=EFD \angle EDF = \angle DEF = \angle EFD
Therefore, triangle DEF DEF is equilateral.

5. Since DEF DEF is equilateral, point P P is known as the first isodynamic point of triangle ABC ABC . By the properties of the isodynamic point, we have:
PABC=PBCA=PCAB PA \cdot BC = PB \cdot CA = PC \cdot AB

6. This completes the proof that:
PABC=PBCA=PCAB PA \cdot BC = PB \cdot CA = PC \cdot AB

\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.