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Estonian Mathematical Olympiad

Estonia geometry

Problem

The angle bisectors of an acute triangle meet at point . The line meets the circumcircle of the triangle at point () and the side at point . The line meets the circumcircle of the triangle at point whereas the line meets the circumcircle of the triangle at point ().

a. Prove that the line is tangent to the circumcircle of the triangle .

b. Prove that points are concyclic.
Solution
Let , , . Then and , yielding Depending on the location of the point (Figures 50 and 51), we have either or ; in each case . Analogously, we obtain . Hence On the other hand, we have , meaning that both and bisect the angle . Consequently, points and lie on a line. As the bisector of the vertex angle of the isosceles triangle is also the perpendicular bisector of the line segment , symmetry yields and .

a. If the point lies between points and then Hence the line is tangent to the circumcircle of the triangle (as points lie on a line). If the point lies between points and then Analogously to the previous case, the line must be tangent to the circumcircle of the triangle .

b. Since and points lie on a line, the line is tangent to the circumcircle of the triangle . On the other hand, we have , implying that is also tangent to the circumcircle of the triangle . Using the power of the point w.r.t. to these circles, we get and , respectively. Altogether, we obtain . Hence points are concyclic.

Techniques

Triangle centers: centroid, incenter, circumcenter, orthocenter, Euler line, nine-point circleTangentsCyclic quadrilateralsAngle chasing