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USA Team Selection Test

Geometry Difficulty 8.7 Shortlist Find the answer

Let ABCABC be an acute scalene triangle and let PP be a point in its interior. Let A1A_1, B1B_1, C1C_1 be projections of PP onto triangle sides BCBC, CACA, ABAB, respectively. Find the locus of points PP such that AA1AA_1, BB1BB_1, CC1CC_1 are concurrent and ∠PAB+∠PBC+∠PCA=90∘\angle PAB + \angle PBC + \angle PCA = 90^{\circ}.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Let ABC ABC be an acute scalene triangle and let P P be a point in its interior. Let A1 A_1 , B1 B_1 , C1 C_1 be the projections of P P onto the sides BC BC , CA CA , and AB AB , respectively. We seek the locus of points P P such that AA1 AA_1 , BB1 BB_1 , and CC1 CC_1 are concurrent and ∠PAB+∠PBC+∠PCA=90∘ \angle PAB + \angle PBC + \angle PCA = 90^\circ .

To solve this, we consider the possible locations for P P . The only possible points are the incenter, circumcenter, and orthocenter of △ABC \triangle ABC . We can verify that all three points satisfy the given conditions using Ceva's Theorem and Trigonometric Ceva's Theorem.

Suppose P P is in the locus. Define x1=∠PAB x_1 = \angle PAB , x2=∠PBC x_2 = \angle PBC , x3=∠PCA x_3 = \angle PCA , y1=∠PAC y_1 = \angle PAC , y2=∠PBA y_2 = \angle PBA , and y3=∠PCB y_3 = \angle PCB . By Trigonometric Ceva's Theorem, we have:
sin⁡x1sin⁡x2sin⁡x3=sin⁡y1sin⁡y2sin⁡y3. \sin x_1 \sin x_2 \sin x_3 = \sin y_1 \sin y_2 \sin y_3.

Next, we observe that AC1=PAcos⁡x1 AC_1 = PA \cos x_1 , and similarly for the other five segments. By Ceva's Theorem, we have:
cos⁡x1cos⁡x2cos⁡x3=cos⁡y1cos⁡y2cos⁡y3. \cos x_1 \cos x_2 \cos x_3 = \cos y_1 \cos y_2 \cos y_3.

Since the sum of all six angles is π \pi , we get:
x1+x2+x3=y1+y2+y3=π2. x_1 + x_2 + x_3 = y_1 + y_2 + y_3 = \frac{\pi}{2}.

Conversely, if P P satisfies these three conditions, then P P is in the locus (since Ceva's and Trigonometric Ceva's Theorems are if-and-only-if statements).

In fact, we can prove that if P P satisfies the conditions, then {x1,x2,x3}={y1,y2,y3} \{x_1, x_2, x_3\} = \{y_1, y_2, y_3\} . Note that all six angles are in (0,π/2) (0, \pi/2) , so it suffices to show {tan⁡x1,tan⁡x2,tan⁡x3}={tan⁡y1,tan⁡y2,tan⁡y3} \{\tan x_1, \tan x_2, \tan x_3\} = \{\tan y_1, \tan y_2, \tan y_3\} .

First, note that tan⁡x1tan⁡x2tan⁡x3=tan⁡y1tan⁡y2tan⁡y3 \tan x_1 \tan x_2 \tan x_3 = \tan y_1 \tan y_2 \tan y_3 by dividing the sine equation by the cosine equation. Next, note that:
0=cos⁡(x1+x2+x3)=cos⁡x1cos⁡x2cos⁡x3−sin⁡x1cos⁡x2cos⁡x3−cos⁡x1sin⁡x2cos⁡x3−cos⁡x1cos⁡x2sin⁡x3. 0 = \cos(x_1 + x_2 + x_3) = \cos x_1 \cos x_2 \cos x_3 - \sin x_1 \cos x_2 \cos x_3 - \cos x_1 \sin x_2 \cos x_3 - \cos x_1 \cos x_2 \sin x_3.

Dividing by cos⁡x1cos⁡x2cos⁡x3 \cos x_1 \cos x_2 \cos x_3 (which is positive) and rearranging, we get:
tan⁡x1tan⁡x2+tan⁡x2tan⁡x3+tan⁡x3tan⁡x1=1. \tan x_1 \tan x_2 + \tan x_2 \tan x_3 + \tan x_3 \tan x_1 = 1.

The same identity holds for y1,y2,y3 y_1, y_2, y_3 as well, so:
tan⁡x1tan⁡x2+tan⁡x2tan⁡x3+tan⁡x3tan⁡x1=tan⁡y1tan⁡y2+tan⁡y2tan⁡y3+tan⁡y3tan⁡y1. \tan x_1 \tan x_2 + \tan x_2 \tan x_3 + \tan x_3 \tan x_1 = \tan y_1 \tan y_2 + \tan y_2 \tan y_3 + \tan y_3 \tan y_1.

Now, note that:
1=sin⁡(x1+x2+x3)=sin⁡x1cos⁡x2cos⁡x3+cos⁡x1sin⁡x2cos⁡x3+cos⁡x1cos⁡x2sin⁡x3−sin⁡x1sin⁡x2sin⁡x3. 1 = \sin(x_1 + x_2 + x_3) = \sin x_1 \cos x_2 \cos x_3 + \cos x_1 \sin x_2 \cos x_3 + \cos x_1 \cos x_2 \sin x_3 - \sin x_1 \sin x_2 \sin x_3.

Dividing by cos⁡x1cos⁡x2cos⁡x3 \cos x_1 \cos x_2 \cos x_3 and rearranging, we get:
1cos⁡x1cos⁡x2cos⁡x3+tan⁡x1tan⁡x2tan⁡x3=tan⁡x1+tan⁡x2+tan⁡x3. \frac{1}{\cos x_1 \cos x_2 \cos x_3} + \tan x_1 \tan x_2 \tan x_3 = \tan x_1 + \tan x_2 + \tan x_3.

However, the same identity holds for y1,y2,y3 y_1, y_2, y_3 , and the left-hand side doesn't change when we replace x1,x2,x3 x_1, x_2, x_3 with y1,y2,y3 y_1, y_2, y_3 . Thus:
tan⁡x1+tan⁡x2+tan⁡x3=tan⁡y1+tan⁡y2+tan⁡y3. \tan x_1 + \tan x_2 + \tan x_3 = \tan y_1 + \tan y_2 + \tan y_3.

Thus, the three symmetric sums of {tan⁡x1,tan⁡x2,tan⁡x3} \{\tan x_1, \tan x_2, \tan x_3\} and {tan⁡y1,tan⁡y2,tan⁡y3} \{\tan y_1, \tan y_2, \tan y_3\} are equal, which means that {tan⁡x1,tan⁡x2,tan⁡x3}={tan⁡y1,tan⁡y2,tan⁡y3} \{\tan x_1, \tan x_2, \tan x_3\} = \{\tan y_1, \tan y_2, \tan y_3\} and thus {x1,x2,x3}={y1,y2,y3} \{x_1, x_2, x_3\} = \{y_1, y_2, y_3\} .

We now consider cases based on x1 x_1 :

Case 1: x1=y1 x_1 = y_1 . Then (x2,x3)≠(y3,y2) (x_2, x_3) \neq (y_3, y_2) , so x2=y2 x_2 = y_2 and x3=y3 x_3 = y_3 . This implies that P P lies on each angle bisector, so P=I P = I (the incenter).

Case 2: x1=y2 x_1 = y_2 . Then x2≠y1 x_2 \neq y_1 , so x2=y3 x_2 = y_3 and x3=y1 x_3 = y_1 . This implies that PA=PB=PC PA = PB = PC , so P=O P = O (the circumcenter).

Case 3: x1=y3 x_1 = y_3 . Then x3≠y1 x_3 \neq y_1 , so x3=y2 x_3 = y_2 and x2=y1 x_2 = y_1 . Then, we see that ∠A+∠BPC=x1+y1+(180∘−x2−y3)=180∘ \angle A + \angle BPC = x_1 + y_1 + (180^\circ - x_2 - y_3) = 180^\circ , so the reflection of P P over BC BC lies on (ABC) (ABC) . This implies that P P lies on (BHC) (BHC) , and similarly it lies on (AHB) (AHB) and (CHA) (CHA) , so P=H P = H (the orthocenter).

We have exhausted all cases for x1 x_1 , so the locus of points P P is the set of the incenter, circumcenter, and orthocenter of △ABC \triangle ABC .

The answer is: the incenter, circumcenter, and orthocenter of △ABC\boxed{\text{the incenter, circumcenter, and orthocenter of } \triangle ABC}.

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