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Geometry Difficulty 7.3 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

Let ABCABC be a triangle. Find all points PP on segment BCBC satisfying the following property: If XX and YY are the intersections of line PAPA with the common external tangent lines of the circumcircles of triangles PABPAB and PACPAC , then (PAXY)2+PBPCABAC=1.\left(\frac{PA}{XY}\right)^2+\frac{PB\cdot PC}{AB\cdot AC}=1.

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

Solution

Let circle PABPAB (i.e. the circumcircle of PABPAB ), PACPAC be ω1,ω2\omega_1, \omega_2 with radii r1r_1 , r2r_2 and centers O1,O2O_1, O_2 , respectively, and dd be the distance between their centers.
Lemma. XY=r1+r2dd2(r1r2)2.XY = \frac{r_1 + r_2}{d} \sqrt{d^2 - (r_1 - r_2)^2}.
Proof. Let the external tangent containing XX meet ω1\omega_1 at X1X_1 and ω2\omega_2 at X2X_2 , and let the external tangent containing YY meet ω1\omega_1 at Y1Y_1 and ω2\omega_2 at Y2Y_2 . Then clearly X1Y1X_1 Y_1 and X2Y2X_2 Y_2 are parallel (for they are both perpendicular O1O2O_1 O_2 ), and so X1Y1Y2X2X_1 Y_1 Y_2 X_2 is a trapezoid.
Now, X1X2=XAXP=X2X2X_1 X^2 = XA \cdot XP = X_2 X^2 by Power of a Point, and so XX is the midpoint of X1X2X_1 X_2 . Similarly, YY is the midpoint of Y1Y2Y_1 Y_2 . Hence, XY=12(X1Y1+X2Y2).XY = \frac{1}{2} (X_1 Y_1 + X_2 Y_2). Let X1Y1X_1 Y_1 , X2Y2X_2 Y_2 meet O1O2O_1 O_2 s at Z1,Z2Z_1, Z_2 , respectively. Then by similar triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem we deduce that X1Z1=r1d2(r1r2)2dX_1 Z_1 = \frac{r_1 \sqrt{d^2 - (r_1 - r_2)^2}}{d} and r2d2(r1r2)2d\frac{r_2 \sqrt{d^2 - (r_1 - r_2)^2}}{d} . But it is clear that Z1Z_1 , Z2Z_2 is the midpoint of X1Y1X_1 Y_1 , X2Y2X_2 Y_2 , respectively, so XY=(r1+r2)dd2(r1r2)2,XY = \frac{(r_1 + r_2)}{d} \sqrt{d^2 - (r_1 - r_2)^2}, as desired.
Lemma 2. Triangles O1AO2O_1 A O_2 and BACBAC are similar.
Proof. AO1O2=PO1A2=ABC\angle{AO_1 O_2} = \frac{\angle{PO_1 A}}{2} = \angle{ABC} and similarly AO2O1=ACB\angle{AO_2 O_1} = \angle{ACB} , so the triangles are similar by AA Similarity.
Also, let O1O2O_1 O_2 intersect APAP at ZZ . Then obviously ZZ is the midpoint of APAP and AZAZ is an altitude of triangle AO1O2A O_1 O_2 .Thus, we can simplify our expression of XYXY : XY=AB+ACBCAP2haBC2(ABAC)2,XY = \frac{AB + AC}{BC} \cdot \frac{AP}{2 h_a} \sqrt{BC^2 - (AB - AC)^2}, where hah_a is the length of the altitude from AA in triangle ABCABC . Hence, substituting into our condition and using AB=c,BC=a,CA=bAB = c, BC = a, CA = b gives (2aha(b+c)a2(bc)2)2+PBPCbc=1.\left( \frac{2a h_a}{(b+c) \sqrt{a^2 - (b-c)^2}} \right)^2 + \frac{PB \cdot PC}{bc} = 1. Using 2aha=4[ABC]=(a+b+c)(a+bc)(ab+c)(a+b+c)2 a h_a = 4[ABC] = \sqrt{(a + b + c)(a + b - c)(a - b + c)(-a + b + c)} by Heron's Formula (where [ABC][ABC] is the area of triangle ABCABC , our condition becomes (a+b+c)(a+b+c)(b+c)2+PBPCbc=1,\frac{(a + b + c)(-a + b + c)}{(b + c)^2} + \frac{PB \cdot PC}{bc} = 1, which by (a+b+c)(a+b+c)=(b+c)2a2(a + b + c)(-a + b + c) = (b + c)^2 - a^2 becomes PBPCbc=a2bc(b+c)2.\frac{PB \cdot PC}{bc} = \frac{a^2 bc}{(b+c)^2}. Let PB=xPB = x ; then PC=axPC = a - x . The quadratic in xx is x2ax+a2bc(b+c)2=0,x^2 - ax + \frac{a^2 bc}{(b+c)^2} = 0, which factors as (xabb+c)(xacb+c)=0.\left(x - \frac{ab}{b+c}\right)\left(x - \frac{ac}{b+c}\right) = 0. Hence, PB=abb+cPB = \frac{ab}{b+c} or acb+c\frac{ac}{b+c} , and so the PP corresponding to these lengths are our answer.
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