Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /329 of 348

Geometry Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer

Point PP lies inside equilateral triangle ABCA B C so that BPC=120\angle B P C=120^{\circ} and AP2=BP+CPA P \sqrt{2}=B P+C P. APAB\frac{A P}{A B} can be written as abc\frac{a \sqrt{b}}{c}, where a,b,ca, b, c are integers, cc is positive, bb is square-free, and gcd(a,c)=1\operatorname{gcd}(a, c)=1. Find 100a+10b+c100 a+10 b+c.

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

Solution

Let OO be the center of ABCA B C. First, we draw in the circumcircle of ABCA B C and the circumcircle of BOCB O C, labeled ω1\omega_{1} and ω2\omega_{2}, respectively. Note that ω1\omega_{1} is the reflection of ω2\omega_{2} over BCB C and that PP lies on ω2\omega_{2}. Now, let PCP_{C} be the second intersection of ray CPC P with ω1\omega_{1}. Additionally, label the second intersections of ray APA P with ω1\omega_{1} and ω2\omega_{2} be MM and XX, respectively. Lastly, let AA^{\prime} be the diametrically opposite point from AA on ω1\omega_{1}. We first note that AA^{\prime} is the center of ω2\omega_{2}. Thus, AA^{\prime} lies on the perpendicular bisector of segment PXP X. But since AAA A^{\prime} is a diameter of ω1\omega_{1}, this also means that the midpoint of PXP X lies on ω1\omega_{1}. This implies that MM is the midpoint of PXP X. From a simple angle chase, we have PCPB=180BPC=60\angle P_{C} P B=180-\angle B P C=60^{\circ}. Also, BPCC=BAC=60\angle B P_{C} C=\angle B A C=60^{\circ}. Therefore, we find that triangle BPPCB P P_{C} is equilateral with side length BPB P. Now we begin computations. By Law of Cosines in triangle BPCB P C, we see that BP2+CP2+BPCP=B P^{2}+C P^{2}+B P \cdot C P= BC2=AB2B C^{2}=A B^{2}. However, we can rewrite this as AB2=BP2+CP2+BPCP=(BP+CP)2BPCP=2AP2BPCPA B^{2}=B P^{2}+C P^{2}+B P \cdot C P=(B P+C P)^{2}-B P \cdot C P=2 \cdot A P^{2}-B P \cdot C P To find an equation for APAB\frac{A P}{A B}, it suffices to simplify the expression BPCPB P \cdot C P. Since BPPCB P P_{C} is equilateral, we can proceed through Power of a Point. By looking at ω1\omega_{1}, we see that BPCP=PPCCP=APPM=12APAXB P \cdot C P=P P_{C} \cdot C P=A P \cdot P M=\frac{1}{2} \cdot A P \cdot A X Then, from Power of a Point on ω2\omega_{2}, we see that 12APAX=12AP(AXAP)=12APAX12AP2=12(AB2AP2)\frac{1}{2} \cdot A P \cdot A X=\frac{1}{2} \cdot A P \cdot(A X-A P)=\frac{1}{2} \cdot A P \cdot A X-\frac{1}{2} \cdot A P^{2}=\frac{1}{2}\left(A B^{2}-A P^{2}\right) Combining everything, we find that BPCP=12(AB2AP2)B P \cdot C P=\frac{1}{2}\left(A B^{2}-A P^{2}\right) which means that AB2=2AP212(AB2AP2)52AB2=32AP2APAB=155A B^{2}=2 \cdot A P^{2}-\frac{1}{2}\left(A B^{2}-A P^{2}\right) \Longrightarrow \frac{5}{2} A B^{2}=\frac{3}{2} A P^{2} \Longrightarrow \frac{A P}{A B}=\frac{\sqrt{15}}{5}

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.