Show that the four perpendiculars dropped from the midpoints of the sides of a cyclic quadrilateral to the respective opposite sides are concurrent.
[b]Note by Darij:[/b] A [i]cyclic quadrilateral [/i]is a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle.
Problem 1435
Official solution
1. Define the vertices and midpoints:
Let be the complex numbers (affixes) representing the vertices of the cyclic quadrilateral . The midpoints of the sides are given by:
2. Assume the center of the circle:
Assume the center of the circle is at the origin, i.e., .
3. Define the perpendiculars:
Let be the perpendicular dropped from to the opposite side of the quadrilateral.
4. Form a parallelogram:
Consider the quadrilateral formed by the perpendicular bisectors of and and the lines and . This quadrilateral is a parallelogram with as one of its vertices.
5. Intersection points:
The intersection point of and has the affix:
Similarly, the intersection point of and has the affix:
6. Conclusion:
Since , it follows that the lines are concurrent at the point with affix .