Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 43 of 300 #1443 of 1964

Problem 1443

National olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Geometry Difficulty 7.1 Prove it

In acute-angled triangle ABCABC, BHBH is the altitude of the vertex BB. The points DD and EE are midpoints of ABAB and ACAC respectively. Suppose that FF be the reflection of HH with respect to EDED. Prove that the line BFBF passes through circumcenter of ABCABC.

by Davood Vakili

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, then read the official solution and mark yourself. Be honest about it: the record is only any use to you if it is.

Official solution

1. Define Points and Midpoints:
- Let S S be the midpoint of BC BC .
- Let K K be the intersection of BH BH and DE DE .

2. Angle Chasing:
- We need to show that B,D,K,F B, D, K, F lie on a circle. To do this, we will use angle chasing and properties of reflections and midpoints.
- Since D D and E E are midpoints of AB AB and AC AC respectively, DE DE is the midline of ABC \triangle ABC , parallel to BC BC and half its length.

3. Reflection Properties:
- F F is the reflection of H H with respect to DE DE . This means DE DE is the perpendicular bisector of HF HF , and thus DH=DF DH = DF and EH=EF EH = EF .

4. Angle Calculation:
- We need to show that the angles DBF \angle DBF and DBC \angle DBC are equal modulo π \pi .
- Consider the angles:
(DB;DF)(DB;DE)+(DE;DF)(BA;BC)+(DH;DE) (DB; DF) \equiv (DB; DE) + (DE; DF) \equiv (BA; BC) + (DH; DE)
- Since DEBC DE \parallel BC , we have:
(DH;DE)(DH;DS)+(DS;DE)(SD;SE)+(CA;CB) (DH; DE) \equiv (DH; DS) + (DS; DE) \equiv (SD; SE) + (CA; CB)
- Using the fact that S S is the midpoint of BC BC , we get:
(SD;SE)(AC;AB) (SD; SE) \equiv (AC; AB)
- Combining these, we have:
(DB;DF)(BA;BC)+(AC;AB)+(CA;CB)2(CA;CB)2(EA;ED) (DB; DF) \equiv (BA; BC) + (AC; AB) + (CA; CB) \equiv 2(CA; CB) \equiv 2(EA; ED)
- Since F F is the reflection of H H across DE DE , we have:
(EA;EF)(KB;KF)modπ (EA; EF) \equiv (KB; KF) \mod \pi

5. Cyclic Quadrilateral:
- From the above, we conclude that B,D,K,F B, D, K, F lie on a circle because:
(DB;DF)(KB;KF)modπ (DB; DF) \equiv (KB; KF) \mod \pi

6. Isogonal Conjugates:
- Since B,D,K,F B, D, K, F lie on a circle, we have:
(BF;BD)(KF;KE)(KE;KH)(BC;BH)modπ (BF; BD) \equiv (KF; KE) \equiv (KE; KH) \equiv (BC; BH) \mod \pi
- This implies that BF BF and BH BH are isogonal conjugates with respect to ABC \triangle ABC .

7. Conclusion:
- Since BF BF and BH BH are isogonal conjugates, BF BF passes through the circumcenter of ABC \triangle ABC .

\blacksquare

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.