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Geometry Difficulty 7.5 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

The incircle ω\omega of acute-angled scalene triangle ABCABC has centre II and meets sides BCBC, CACA, and ABAB at DD, EE, and FF, respectively. The line through DD perpendicular to EFEF meets ω\omega again at RR. Line ARAR meets ω\omega again at PP. The circumcircles of triangles PCEPCE and PBFPBF meet again at QPQ \neq P. Prove that lines DIDI and PQPQ meet on the external bisector of angle BACBAC. (India) Common remarks. Throughout the solution, (a,b)\angle(a, b) denotes the directed angle between lines aa and bb, measured modulo π\pi.

Solution

Step 1. The external bisector of BAC\angle B A C is the line through AA perpendicular to IAI A. Let DID I meet this line at LL and let DID I meet ω\omega at KK. Let NN be the midpoint of EFE F, which lies on IAI A and is the pole of line ALA L with respect to ω\omega. Since ANAI=AE2=ARAPA N \cdot A I=A E^{2}=A R \cdot A P, the points RR, N,IN, I, and PP are concyclic. As IR=IPI R=I P, the line NIN I is the external bisector of PNR\angle P N R, so PNP N meets ω\omega again at the point symmetric to RR with respect to ANi.eA N-i . e at KK. Let DND N cross ω\omega again at SS. Opposite sides of any quadrilateral inscribed in the circle ω\omega meet on the polar line of the intersection of the diagonals with respect to ω\omega. Since LL lies on the polar line ALA L of NN with respect to ω\omega, the line PSP S must pass through LL. Thus it suffices to prove that the points S,QS, Q, and PP are collinear. ! Step 2. Let Γ\Gamma be the circumcircle of BIC\triangle B I C. Notice that (BQ,QC)=(BQ,QP)+(PQ,QC)=(BF,FP)+(PE,EC)=(EF,EP)+(FP,FE)=(FP,EP)=(DF,DE)=(BI,IC) \begin{aligned} & \angle(B Q, Q C)=\angle(B Q, Q P)+\angle(P Q, Q C)=\angle(B F, F P)+\angle(P E, E C) \\ &=\angle(E F, E P)+\angle(F P, F E)=\angle(F P, E P)=\angle(D F, D E)=\angle(B I, I C) \end{aligned} so QQ lies on Γ\Gamma. Let QPQ P meet Γ\Gamma again at TT. It will now suffice to prove that S,PS, P, and TT are collinear. Notice that (BI,IT)=(BQ,QT)=(BF,FP)=(FK,KP)\angle(B I, I T)=\angle(B Q, Q T)=\angle(B F, F P)=\angle(F K, K P). Note FDFKF D \perp F K and FDBIF D \perp B I so FKBIF K \| B I and hence ITI T is parallel to the line KNPK N P. Since DI=IKD I=I K, the line ITI T crosses DND N at its midpoint MM. Step 3. Let FF^{\prime} and EE^{\prime} be the midpoints of DED E and DFD F, respectively. Since DEEF=DE2=D E^{\prime} \cdot E^{\prime} F=D E^{\prime 2}= BEEIB E^{\prime} \cdot E^{\prime} I, the point EE^{\prime} lies on the radical axis of ω\omega and Γ\Gamma; the same holds for FF^{\prime}. Therefore, this radical axis is EFE^{\prime} F^{\prime}, and it passes through MM. Thus IMMT=DMMSI M \cdot M T=D M \cdot M S, so S,I,DS, I, D, and TT are concyclic. This shows (DS,ST)=(DI,IT)=(DK,KP)=(DS,SP)\angle(D S, S T)=\angle(D I, I T)=\angle(D K, K P)=\angle(D S, S P), whence the points S,PS, P, and TT are collinear, as desired. ! Comment. Here is a longer alternative proof in step 1 that P,SP, S, and LL are collinear, using a circular inversion instead of the fact that opposite sides of a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle ω\omega meet on the polar line with respect to ω\omega of the intersection of the diagonals. Let GG be the foot of the altitude from NN to the line DIKLD I K L. Observe that N,G,K,SN, G, K, S are concyclic (opposite right angles) so DIP=2DKP=GKN+DSP=GSN+NSP=GSP, \angle D I P=2 \angle D K P=\angle G K N+\angle D S P=\angle G S N+\angle N S P=\angle G S P, hence I,G,S,PI, G, S, P are concyclic. We have IGIL=INIA=r2I G \cdot I L=I N \cdot I A=r^{2} since IGNIAL\triangle I G N \sim \triangle I A L. Inverting the circle IGSPI G S P in circle ω\omega, points PP and SS are fixed and GG is taken to LL so we find that P,SP, S, and LL are collinear.

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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.