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Print69th Belarusian Mathematical Olympiad
Belarus geometry
Problem
Let be the bisector of the triangle . The points and are chosen on the line such that is the midpoint of the segment . A line , different from , passes through and intersects the lines and at points and , respectively. Find the locus of the points of intersection of the lines and for all possible positions of . (M. Karpuk)
Solution
Answer: The line passing through parallel to the line where is the point on such that (excluding , and the intersection points of this line with the line and the lines passing through and parallel to and , respectively). Choose the points and on the lines and such that the line passes through perpendicular to . The quadrilateral is a parallelogram since is the midpoint of the segments and . Denote the point of intersection of the lines and by . Since the points , and are concurrent, from the Desargues's theorem it follows that the triangles and are centrally perspective with the center — point of intersection of , and . The lines and are parallel, so the point belongs to the line passing through parallel to and . On the other hand, take an arbitrary point (different from the four points mentioned in the answer) on and let and . Since the triangles and are centrally perspective, from the Desargues's theorem it follows that they are axially perspective with the axis — line passing through , and . This axis is the line from the problem condition.
Final answer
The locus is the line through A parallel to KF, where K is the point on AC such that the angle between AA1 and AK is a right angle. Exclude the point A, and the intersection points of this line with BC and with the lines through F parallel to AC and through D parallel to AB.
Techniques
Desargues theoremConstructions and loci