Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.4 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Let ABCDABCD be a cyclic quadrilateral such that the triangles BCDBCD and CDACDA are not equilateral. Prove that if the Simson line of AA with respect to BCD\triangle BCD is perpendicular to the Euler line of BCDBCD, then the Simson line of BB with respect to ACD\triangle ACD is perpendicular to the Euler line of ACD\triangle ACD.

Solution

1. Define the Simson Line and Euler Line:
- The Simson line of a point P P with respect to a triangle ABC \triangle ABC is the line passing through the feet of the perpendiculars dropped from P P to the sides of ABC \triangle ABC .
- The Euler line of a triangle is the line that passes through several important points of the triangle, including the orthocenter H H , the centroid G G , and the circumcenter O O .

2. Given Conditions:
- ABCDABCD is a cyclic quadrilateral.
- The Simson line of A A with respect to BCD \triangle BCD is perpendicular to the Euler line of BCD \triangle BCD .

3. Construct Points and Lines:
- Let E E and F F be the feet of the perpendiculars from B B to AC AC and DC DC , respectively.
- Let B B^* be the intersection of the altitude from B B to DC DC with the circumcircle of ABCDABCD.
- Similarly, define A A^* as the intersection of the altitude from A A to BD BD with the circumcircle of ABCDABCD.
- Let M M be the midpoint of AB AB^* and M M^* be the midpoint of AB A^*B .
- Let H1 H_1 and H2 H_2 be the orthocenters of ADC \triangle ADC and BDC \triangle BDC , respectively.

4. Lemma:
- The Simson line of B B with respect to ACD \triangle ACD is parallel to AB AB^* .

5. Proof of Lemma:
- Consider the angles:
BBA=BCA=BFE \angle BB^*A = \angle BCA = \angle BFE
Since BCA=BFE \angle BCA = \angle BFE , it follows that EFAB EF \parallel AB^* .

6. **Simson Line of A A :**
- Similarly, the Simson line of A A with respect to BCD \triangle BCD is parallel to AB A^*B .

7. Collinearity and Cyclic Quadrilateral:
- Note that M,O,H1 M, O, H_1 are collinear.
- The triangle AH1B \triangle AH_1B^* is isosceles, so:
H1AB=HBA \angle H_1AB^* = \angle HB^*A
- Since H1H2AB H_1H_2 \parallel AB , the quadrilateral H1H2BA H_1H_2B^*A^* is cyclic.

8. Angle Relationships:
- We know:
AAB=ABB \angle AA^*B = \angle AB^*B
Therefore:
H1BA=H2AB \angle H_1B^*A = \angle H_2A^*B
- This implies:
AAB=ABB \angle A^*AB^* = \angle A^*BB^*
and:
ABH=H2AB \angle AB^*H = \angle H_2A^*B
- Thus, the triangle BH2A \triangle BH_2A^* is isosceles.

9. Collinearity of Points:
- Points O,H1,H2,M,M O, H_1, H_2, M^*, M are collinear.

10. Conclusion:
- Since the Simson line of A A with respect to BCD \triangle BCD is perpendicular to the Euler line of BCD \triangle BCD , by symmetry and the properties of the cyclic quadrilateral, the Simson line of B B with respect to ACD \triangle ACD is also perpendicular to the Euler line of ACD \triangle ACD .

\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.