Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

In a cyclic quadrilateral ABCDABCD, the diagonals meet at point EE, the midpoint of side ABAB is FF, and the feet of perpendiculars from EE to the lines DA,ABDA,AB and BCBC are P,QP,Q and RR, respectively. Prove that the points P,Q,RP,Q,R and FF are concyclic.

Solution

1. Identify Key Points and Definitions:
- Let ABCDABCD be a cyclic quadrilateral with diagonals ACAC and BDBD intersecting at point EE.
- Let FF be the midpoint of side ABAB.
- Let PP, QQ, and RR be the feet of the perpendiculars from EE to the lines DADA, ABAB, and BCBC, respectively.

2. Extend Lines and Consider Triangle:
- Extend lines ADAD and BCBC to meet at point KK.
- Consider KAB\triangle KAB.

3. Pedal Circle Concept:
- The points PP, QQ, and RR form the pedal triangle of point EE with respect to KAB\triangle KAB.
- The pedal circle (or the nine-point circle) of a point with respect to a triangle passes through the feet of the perpendiculars from the point to the sides of the triangle.

4. Isogonal Conjugate and Angle Properties:
- Since ABCDABCD is cyclic, KAE=KBE\angle KAE = \angle KBE.
- This implies that BAE=ABE\angle BAE^* = \angle ABE^*, where EE^* is the isogonal conjugate of EE with respect to KAB\triangle KAB.
- The isogonal conjugate of a point with respect to a triangle has the property that the feet of the perpendiculars from the point and its isogonal conjugate to the sides of the triangle lie on the same circle.

5. Midpoint and Perpendicular Foot:
- Since FF is the midpoint of ABAB, it is also the foot of the perpendicular from EE onto AB\overline{AB} in the context of the pedal circle of EE and EE^*.

6. Conclusion:
- Therefore, the points PP, QQ, RR, and FF lie on the common pedal circle of EE and EE^*.

The points P,Q,R, and F are concyclic. \boxed{\text{The points } P, Q, R, \text{ and } F \text{ are concyclic.}}

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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.