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Geometry Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer

ABCDA B C D is a cyclic quadrilateral in which AB=3,BC=5,CD=6A B=3, B C=5, C D=6, and AD=10.M,IA D=10 . M, I, and TT are the feet of the perpendiculars from DD to lines AB,ACA B, A C, and BCB C respectively. Determine the value of MI/ITM I / I T.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Quadrilaterals AMIDA M I D and DICTD I C T are cyclic, having right angles AMD,AID\angle A M D, \angle A I D, and CID,CTD\angle C I D, \angle C T D respectively. We see that M,IM, I, and TT are collinear. For, mMID=πmDAM=m \angle M I D=\pi-m \angle D A M= πmDAB=mBCD=πmDCT=πmDIT\pi-m \angle D A B=m \angle B C D=\pi-m \angle D C T=\pi-m \angle D I T. Therefore, Menelaus' theorem applied to triangle MTB and line ICAI C A gives MIITTCCBBAAM=1\frac{M I}{I T} \cdot \frac{T C}{C B} \cdot \frac{B A}{A M}=1 On the other hand, triangle ADMA D M is similar to triangle CDTC D T since AMDCTD\angle A M D \cong \angle C T D and DAM\angle D A M \cong DCT\angle D C T and thus AM/CT=AD/CDA M / C T=A D / C D. It follows that MIIT=BCAMABCT=BCADABCD=51036=259\frac{M I}{I T}=\frac{B C \cdot A M}{A B \cdot C T}=\frac{B C \cdot A D}{A B \cdot C D}=\frac{5 \cdot 10}{3 \cdot 6}=\frac{25}{9} Remarks. The line MITM I T, constructed in this problem by taking perpendiculars from a point on the circumcircle of ABCA B C, is known as the Simson line. It is often helpful for us to use directed angles while angle chasing to avoid supplementary configuration issues, such as those arising while establishing the collinearity of M,IM, I, and TT.

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