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IMO Team Selection Test 2

Netherlands geometry

Problem

A triangle and a point on the line segment are given. Let be the midpoint of and let be the circle through and tangent to . Let be the point such that and such that and lie on opposite sides of the line . Show that lies on if and only if .
Solution
We first prove that . Since and lie on opposite sides of , it holds that because of the given similarity and the exterior angle theorem. Moreover, it holds that because of the similarity defining and the fact that is the midpoint of . It now follows that (sas). In particular, it follows that . Therefore if and only if . By the inscribed angle theorem (tangent case), this holds if and only if is tangent to the circumcircle of . The circle through and tangent to is unique, and has as centre the intersection of the perpendicular bisector of and the line through perpendicular to . So is tangent to the circumcircle of if and only if lies on .

Techniques

TangentsAngle chasingTriangles