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VMO

Vietnam geometry

Problem

Let be an acute, non-isosceles triangle with altitudes , and . The circle () intersects , at , . Let , be the points on , respectively such that is perpendicular to and is parallel to . Let () be the circumcircle of triangle .

a) Prove that () is tangent to .

b) Let be the tangency point of the circumcircle of triangle with , be the intersection of , and be the reflection of through . Prove that the circumcircle of triangle passes through the intersection of , .
Solution
a) Let be the foot of on . Note that is the internal bisector of so , are symmetric with respect to . On the other hand, then , are symmetric with respect to . Therefore, , , are collinear and . Similarly, and , , are collinear. Hence, is the diameter of and then is tangent to .

b) Let , , and be the intersections of with , , and . It is well-known that , are the reflections of through , respectively then passes through the feet of altitudes from , in triangle . Thus, and . On the other hand, we also have is the perpendicular bisector of then is the midpoint of . Hence, . Projecting on , we have . Note that is the midpoint of , we have Therefore, is cyclic or passes through .

Techniques

TangentsPolar triangles, harmonic conjugatesAngle chasing