IMO 2014/4

Points $P$ and $Q$ lie on side $BC$ of acute-angled triangle $ABC$ so that $\angle PAB = \angle BCA$ and $\angle CAQ = \angle ABC$ . Points $M$ and $N$ lie on lines $AP$ and $AQ$ respectively, such that $P$ is the midpoint of $AM$ , and $Q$ is the midpoint of $AN$ . Prove that lines $BM$ and $CN$ intersect on the circumcircle of triangle $ABC$ .

#Geometry #IMO

Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

I'll give a solution using complex numbers, hopefully no mistakes were made. The triangles QCA and ACB are similar, so (C-Q)/(A-Q)=[(C-A)/(B-A)]£, where £ refers to complex conjugation. Also, triangles ABC, PBA are similar, so (A-P)/(B-P)=[(C-A)/(B-A)]£ . But it is obvious that M-P=P-A and N-Q=Q-A, using these relations we get that (C-Q)/(N-Q)=(M-P)/(B-P), which means that the triangles CQN and MPB are similar. Now we observe that angle(ABM) +angle(ACN)=180 degrees, which means that ABCD is cyclic, so obviously D is on the circumcircle of the triangle ABC.

Adrian Stefan - 6 years, 11 months ago

Alternatively, you could note that $\triangle BPM \sim \triangle CQN$ and then perform a not too tedious trig bash.

Sreejato Bhattacharya - 6 years, 11 months ago

My friend said that he solved it with Barycentric coordinates in 5 minutes :O

Zi Song Yeoh - 6 years, 11 months ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$