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XXIX Rioplatense Mathematical Olympiad

Argentina geometry

Problem

Let be an acute triangle with . Let , , be the feet of the altitudes from , , respectively. The circumcircles of and meet again at . Suppose the line is tangent to the circumcircle of . Prove that , , are collinear.
Solution
First, by the tangency condition and being a cyclic quadrilateral we have that and hence is parallel to . Next, we claim that and are symmetric with respect to . This is because is a diameter of the circumcircle of and it is also perpendicular to .

To finish the proof observe that , where the second and third equalities hold in any triangle, by angle chasing.

Techniques

TangentsCyclic quadrilateralsTriangle centers: centroid, incenter, circumcenter, orthocenter, Euler line, nine-point circleConcurrency and CollinearityAngle chasing