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PrintChina Girls' Mathematical Olympiad
China geometry
Problem
As shown in Fig. 7.1, and are tangent externally at point . The quadrilateral is inscribed in . The lines and are tangent to at points and , respectively. , the bisector of , intersects the segment at point . Line intersects the arc (which does not contain ) at point . Prove that is the excenter of .
Fig. 7.1

Solution
Let be the intersection of line with . Join , , , , , , , . As shown in Fig. 7.2.
As is tangent to at , we have .
As is tangent to at , we have .
Hence, . So and are similar, therefore . The same argument gives .
Now again from that is tangent to at , we have . So , , and are concyclic, which implies that . As is tangent to at , we have . Thus, , and is similar to . Therefore, .
From the above argument, we have , which means that is the excenter of . So . Meanwhile, , and we have . Hence, , i.e., and coincide.
Fig. 7.2
As is tangent to at , we have .
As is tangent to at , we have .
Hence, . So and are similar, therefore . The same argument gives .
Now again from that is tangent to at , we have . So , , and are concyclic, which implies that . As is tangent to at , we have . Thus, , and is similar to . Therefore, .
From the above argument, we have , which means that is the excenter of . So . Meanwhile, , and we have . Hence, , i.e., and coincide.
Fig. 7.2
Techniques
TangentsSpiral similarityAngle chasingCyclic quadrilateralsTriangle centers: centroid, incenter, circumcenter, orthocenter, Euler line, nine-point circle