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75th Romanian Mathematical Olympiad

Romania geometry

Problem

Consider the squares and , such that lies on the segment and lies on the segment . Let be the intersection of the lines and . The perpendicular from to the line intersects the lines and at points and , respectively. Prove that the quadrilateral is a square. Valeriu Bărbieru

problem
Solution
, thus the triangle is right-angled at . Since is the perpendicular bisector of in triangle , it follows that is the midpoint of the hypotenuse .

Let be the projection of onto . Since is the midpoint of and , it follows that is the midsegment in the right trapezoid , therefore is the midpoint of the side . Consequently, the triangle is isosceles, so , thus .

Let be the projection of onto . We have (HA), therefore . Since , we obtain , hence (LA), therefore .

Since (SAS), we have . Consequently, is the midpoint of , is a midsegment in the triangle and is the midpoint of . Thus, the diagonals of the quadrilateral are equal, bisect each other and are orthogonal, therefore is a square.

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Alternative solution.

As in the first solution, is the midpoint of . Since is the perpendicular bisector of the segment , we have . Moreover, , thus is a cyclic quadrilateral, therefore . Since the triangle is isosceles, we have and .

Let be the projection of onto . From we deduce that , hence (HA), therefore . Thus, is the midpoint of . Since , it follows that is a midsegment of the triangle , so is also the midpoint of . Since its diagonals and bisect each other, it follows that is a square.

Techniques

Triangle centers: centroid, incenter, circumcenter, orthocenter, Euler line, nine-point circleCyclic quadrilateralsQuadrilaterals with perpendicular diagonalsAngle chasingDistance chasing