Let be a convex pentagon such that , and . Prove that the perpendicular line from to and the line segments and are concurrent. (Italy)
Solution
Throughout the solution, we refer to , and as internal angles of the pentagon . Let the perpendicular bisectors of and , which pass respectively through and , meet at point . Then and, similarly, . Hence and meet at the orthocenter of the triangle , and . It remains to prove that lies on the line or, equivalently, . Lines and bisect and , respectively. Since , and , the triangles and are congruent. Hence , so the line bisects . Similarly, the line bisects . Finally, the line bisects because lies on all the other four internal bisectors of the angles of the pentagon. The sum of the internal angles in a pentagon is , so
In quadrilateral ,
which means that , completing the proof. !
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.