Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 233 of 400 #1233 of 1964

Problem 1233

National olympiad, first round
Geometry Difficulty 6.3 Prove it

4. Let ABCABC be an acute-angled triangle that is not isosceles. Let HH be the orthocenter of ABC\triangle ABC. The circle with center AA and radius AHAH intersects the circumcircle of BHC\triangle BHC at point TaHT_{a} \neq H. Points TbT_{b} and TcT_{c} are defined analogously. Prove that HH lies on the circumcircle of TaTbTc\triangle T_{a} T_{b} T_{c}.

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

Solution 1. Let MM be the midpoint of BCBC. We denote by S\mathcal{S} the central symmetry with respect to the point MM. If A=S(A)A'=\mathcal{S}(A), then BACHBA'CH is cyclic because

BAC+BHC=BAC+BHC=180 \angle BA'C + \angle BHC = \angle BAC + \angle BHC = 180^\circ

since BAC=BAC\angle BA'C = \angle BAC and BHC=180BAC\angle BHC = 180^\circ - \angle BAC. We also observe that S(A)=A\mathcal{S}(A) = A', S(B)=C\mathcal{S}(B) = C, and S(C)=B\mathcal{S}(C) = B, which implies that S\mathcal{S} maps the circumcircle of triangle ABCABC to the circumcircle of BHCBHC. Specifically, S\mathcal{S} maps the center OO of the circumcircle of ABCABC to the center SS of the circumcircle of BHCBHC.

Furthermore, from OMBCOM \perp BC it follows that OSBCOS \perp BC and OM=MSOM = MS. It is known that AH=2OMAH = 2 \cdot OM, which can be proven by noting that AOAO and HMHM intersect the circumcircle of ABCABC at point HH' and that OMOM is the midline of triangle AHHAHH'.

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Now we can say that AH=2OM=OSAH = 2 \cdot OM = OS. Moreover, AHBCAH \perp BC and OSBCOS \perp BC, which means that AHAH is parallel to OSOS. This implies that AHSOAHSO is a parallelogram, from which we conclude that ASAS passes through the midpoint EE of OHOH. We have that AH=ATaAH = AT_a by the definition of TaT_a and SH=STaSH = ST_a because SS is the center of the circumcircle of BHCBHC. We conclude that ASAS is the perpendicular bisector of HTaHT_a, but EE lies on the line ASAS, which means that ETa=EHET_a = EH.

Similarly, we obtain that ETb=ETc=EHET_b = ET_c = EH. This means that ETa=ETb=ETc=EHET_a = ET_b = ET_c = EH, from which it follows that HTaTbTcHT_aT_bT_c is cyclic with center at EE.

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