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XVIII OBM

Brazil geometry

Problem

is acute-angled. is a variable point on the side . is the circumcenter of , is the circumcenter of , and is the circumcenter of . Find the locus of .

problem
Solution
Let be the circumcenter of and be the respective midpoints of . Notice that and are fixed points and, by Thales theorem, is a variable point on the segment . Then is the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors of and , is the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors of and and, similarly, is the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors of and .



Since , is cyclic; analogously, is cyclic as well. So . Hence .

Quadrilateral is cyclic as well, so . Thus , which implies that is cyclic. Its circumcircle is , and so lies on the perpendicular bisector of , which is fixed. So the locus is a segment contained in such perpendicular bisector.

It remains to find the vertices of this segment. When tends to , the perpendicular bisectors of and tends to coincide, so and tends to coincide and tends to be the circumcenter of ; analogously, when tends to , tends to be the circumcenter of . So the locus is the open segment with vertices on the circumcenters of and .
Final answer
The locus of O is the open segment of the perpendicular bisector of AO′ between the circumcenters of triangles AO′B and AO′C.

Techniques

Triangle centers: centroid, incenter, circumcenter, orthocenter, Euler line, nine-point circleCyclic quadrilateralsAngle chasingConstructions and loci