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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Let ABCA B C be a triangle with circumcircle Ω\Omega and incentre II. Let the line passing through II and perpendicular to CIC I intersect the segment BCB C and the arcBC(\operatorname{arc} B C( not containing A)A) of Ω\Omega at points UU and VV, respectively. Let the line passing through UU and parallel to AIA I intersect AVA V at XX, and let the line passing through VV and parallel to AIA I intersect ABA B at YY. Let WW and ZZ be the midpoints of AXA X and BCB C, respectively. Prove that if the points I,XI, X, and YY are collinear, then the points I,WI, W, and ZZ are also collinear.

Solution

We start with some general observations. Set α=A/2,β=B/2,γ=C/2\alpha = \angle A / 2, \beta = \angle B / 2, \gamma = \angle C / 2. Then obviously α+β+γ=90\alpha + \beta + \gamma = 90^\circ. Since UIC=90\angle U I C = 90^\circ, we obtain IUC=α+β\angle I U C = \alpha + \beta. Therefore BIV=IUCIBC=α=BAI=BYV\angle B I V = \angle I U C - \angle I B C = \alpha = \angle B A I = \angle B Y V, which implies that the points B,Y,IB, Y, I, and VV lie on a common circle (see Figure 1). Assume now that the points I,XI, X, and YY are collinear. We prove that YIA=90\angle Y I A = 90^\circ. Let the line XUX U intersect ABA B at NN. Since the lines AI,UXA I, U X, and VYV Y are parallel, we get
NXAI=YNYA=VUVI=XUAI \frac{N X}{A I} = \frac{Y N}{Y A} = \frac{V U}{V I} = \frac{X U}{A I}
implying NX=XUN X = X U. Moreover, BIU=α=BNU\angle B I U = \alpha = \angle B N U. This implies that the quadrilateral BUINB U I N is cyclic, and since BIB I is the angle bisector of UBN\angle U B N, we infer that NI=UIN I = U I. Thus in the isosceles triangle NIUN I U, the point XX is the midpoint of the base NUN U. This gives IXN=90\angle I X N = 90^\circ, i.e., YIA=90\angle Y I A = 90^\circ. !
Figure 1 Let SS be the midpoint of the segment VCV C. Let moreover TT be the intersection point of the lines AXA X and SIS I, and set x=BAV=BCVx = \angle B A V = \angle B C V. Since CIA=90+β\angle C I A = 90^\circ + \beta and SI=SCS I = S C, we obtain
TIA=180AIS=90βCIS=90βγx=αx=TAI, \angle T I A = 180^\circ - \angle A I S = 90^\circ - \beta - \angle C I S = 90^\circ - \beta - \gamma - x = \alpha - x = \angle T A I,
which implies that TI=TAT I = T A. Therefore, since XIA=90\angle X I A = 90^\circ, the point TT is the midpoint of AXA X, i.e., T=WT = W.
To complete our solution, it remains to show that the intersection point of the lines ISI S and BCB C coincide with the midpoint of the segment BCB C. But since SS is the midpoint of the segment VCV C, it suffices to show that the lines BVB V and ISI S are parallel.
Since the quadrilateral BYIVB Y I V is cyclic, VBI=VYI=YIA=90\angle V B I = \angle V Y I = \angle Y I A = 90^\circ. This implies that BVB V is the external angle bisector of the angle ABCA B C, which yields VAC=VCA\angle V A C = \angle V C A. Therefore 2αx=2γ+x2 \alpha - x = 2 \gamma + x, which gives α=γ+x\alpha = \gamma + x. Hence SCI=α\angle S C I = \alpha, so VSI=2α\angle V S I = 2 \alpha.
On the other hand, BVC=180BAC=1802α\angle B V C = 180^\circ - \angle B A C = 180^\circ - 2 \alpha, which implies that the lines BVB V and ISI S are parallel. This completes the solution.

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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.