Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 147 of 300 #1547 of 1964

Problem 1547

National olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Geometry Difficulty 7.3 Prove it

A circle passing through A,BA, B and the orthocenter of triangle ABCABC meets sides AC,BCAC, BC at their inner points. Prove that 60o<C<90o60^o < \angle C < 90^o .

(A. Blinkov)

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. Let the circle passing through points AA, BB, and the orthocenter HH of triangle ABCABC intersect sides ACAC and BCBC at points I1I_1 and I2I_2 respectively.
2. Since HH is the orthocenter, the angle BHC\angle BHC is given by:
BHC=180A \angle BHC = 180^\circ - \angle A
This follows from the property of the orthocenter in a triangle, where the angle between the altitudes is supplementary to the angle at the opposite vertex.
3. In the cyclic quadrilateral AI2HCAI_2HC, the opposite angles sum to 180180^\circ. Therefore:
AI2C+AHC=180 \angle AI_2C + \angle AHC = 180^\circ
Since AHC=180A\angle AHC = 180^\circ - \angle A, we have:
AI2C=A \angle AI_2C = \angle A
4. In triangle AI2CAI_2C, we know that the sum of the angles is 180180^\circ. Thus:
A+I2+C=180 \angle A + \angle I_2 + \angle C = 180^\circ
Since AI2C=A\angle AI_2C = \angle A, we have:
2A+C=180    2A<180    A<90 2\angle A + \angle C = 180^\circ \implies 2\angle A < 180^\circ \implies \angle A < 90^\circ
5. For the next part, consider the convex quadrilateral CI1I2KCI_1I_2K, where KK is the intersection of BI1BI_1 and AI2AI_2. Since I1I_1 and I2I_2 lie on the circle passing through AA, BB, and HH, the quadrilateral CI1I2KCI_1I_2K is cyclic.
6. In a cyclic quadrilateral, the sum of the opposite angles is 180180^\circ. Therefore:
CI1I2+CKI2=180 \angle CI_1I_2 + \angle CKI_2 = 180^\circ
Since CKI2=C\angle CKI_2 = \angle C, we have:
CI1I2+C=180 \angle CI_1I_2 + \angle C = 180^\circ
7. Since CI1I2\angle CI_1I_2 is an internal angle of the triangle CI1I2KCI_1I_2K, we have:
CI1I2<180 \angle CI_1I_2 < 180^\circ
Therefore:
C<180CI1I2 \angle C < 180^\circ - \angle CI_1I_2
Since CI1I2\angle CI_1I_2 is an internal angle, it must be less than 180180^\circ. Thus:
C>60 \angle C > 60^\circ
8. Combining the results from steps 4 and 7, we have:
60<C<90 60^\circ < \angle C < 90^\circ

\blacksquare

The final answer is 60<C<90 \boxed{ 60^\circ < \angle C < 90^\circ }

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