Locate The Circumcenter

Geometry Level 5

The following figure shows a regular rectangle A B C D ABCD in the x y xy -plane with altitude B H BH of triangle A B C ABC . Points E ( 17 5 ; 29 5 ) E \left(\frac{17}{5};\frac{29}{5}\right) , F ( 17 5 ; 9 5 ) F\left(\frac{17}{5};\frac{9}{5}\right) , and G ( 1 ; 5 ) G\left(1;5\right) are the midpoints of line segments C H CH , B H BH , and A D AD respectively.

If the coordinates of the circumcenter of A B E \triangle ABE can be represented as ( x 0 ; y 0 ) (x_0;y_0) , find x 0 + y 0 x_0+y_0 .

Note: The figure is not drawn to scale.


The answer is 6.

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3 solutions

Chew-Seong Cheong
May 15, 2017

Assuming A B AB and A D AD are parallel to the x x - and y y -axis respectively, then we note that E F EF is parallel to A D AD and B C BC . Since H C H E = H B H F = B C E F = 2 1 \dfrac {HC}{HE} = \dfrac {HB}{HF} = \dfrac {BC}{EF} = \dfrac 21 B C = A D = 2 E F = 2 ( 29 5 9 5 ) = 8 \implies BC = AD = 2EF = 2\left(\dfrac {29}5 - \dfrac 95\right) = 8 .

Since G ( 1 , 5 ) G(1,5) is the midpoint of A D AD , A ( 1 , 1 ) \implies A(1,1) . Let A B = a AB = a , then B ( 1 + a , 1 ) B(1+a, 1) . Let D A C = A C B = A B H = θ \angle DAC = \angle ACB = \angle ABH = \theta . Drop a perpendicular from F F to A B AB at I I . Then we have:

{ tan θ = C D A D = a 8 . . . ( 1 ) tan θ = F I B I = 9 5 1 1 + a 17 5 = 4 5 a 12 . . . ( 2 ) \begin{cases} \tan \theta = \dfrac {CD}{AD} = \dfrac a8 & ...(1) \\ \tan \theta = \dfrac {FI}{BI} = \dfrac {\frac 95-1}{1+a-\frac {17}5} = \dfrac 4{5a-12} & ...(2) \end{cases}

( 1 ) = ( 2 ) : a 8 = 4 5 a 12 5 a 2 12 a 32 = 0 ( 5 a + 8 ) ( a 4 ) = 0 a = 4 Since a > 0 \begin{aligned} (1)=(2): \quad \quad \frac a8 & = \frac 4{5a-12} \\ 5a^2-12a - 32 & = 0 \\ (5a+8)(a-4) & = 0 \\ \implies a & = 4 & \small \color{#3D99F6} \text{Since }a > 0 \end{aligned}

B ( 5 , 1 ) \implies B(5,1) and since circumcenter is the meeting point of perpendicular side bisectors, x 0 = x A + x B 2 = 1 + 5 2 = 3 x_0 = \dfrac {x_A+x_B}2 = \dfrac {1+5}2 = 3 . Using Pythagorean theorem , we have:

( x 0 x A ) 2 + ( y 0 y A ) 2 = ( x E x 0 ) 2 + ( y E y 0 ) 2 ( 3 1 ) 2 + ( y 0 1 ) 2 = ( 17 5 3 ) 2 + ( 29 5 y 0 ) 2 y 0 = 3 \begin{aligned} \left(x_0-x_A\right)^2 + \left(y_0-y_A\right)^2 & = \left(x_E-x_0\right)^2 + \left(y_E-y_0\right)^2 \\ \left(3-1\right)^2 + \left(y_0-1\right)^2 & = \left(\frac {17}5 - 3 \right)^2 + \left(\frac {29}5-y_0\right)^2 \\ \implies y_0 & = 3 \end{aligned}

x 0 + y 0 = 3 + 3 = 6 \implies x_0 + y_0 = 3+3=\boxed{6}

Leah Jurgens
May 12, 2017

(See above image for details)

There are a few aproaches to this but this is a suggested solution I have come up with.

First we will find the coordinates of point A A

We have H E = E C , H F = F B E F = 1 2 C B = 1 2 D A = G A HE=EC,HF=FB \Rightarrow \overrightarrow{EF}= \frac{1}{2}\overrightarrow{CB} = \frac{1}{2}\overrightarrow{DA} = \overrightarrow{GA}

\Rightarrow the coordinates of A A is ( 1 ; 1 ) (1;1) .

We will find the coordinates of B B

We have E F B C , B C A B E F A B EF \parallel BC, BC \perp AB \Rightarrow EF \perp AB . We also have B H A C F BH \perp AC \Rightarrow F is the orthocenter of Δ A B E \Delta ABE

We have: A B E F ( 0 ; 4 ) \overrightarrow{AB} \perp \overrightarrow{EF}(0;-4) and passes point A ( 1 ; 1 ) A(1;1) so the equation of A B AB is y = 1 y=1

Similarly we have B H A E \overrightarrow{BH} \perp \overrightarrow{AE} and passes point F F so the equation of B H BH is x + 2 y 7 = 0 x+2y-7=0

B H A B = B BH \cap AB=B so the coordinates of B B is ( 5 ; 1 ) (5;1) .

Now, let O ( x 0 ; y 0 ) O(x_0;y_0) be the circumcenter of Δ A B E \Delta ABE , E K EK be the diameter of ( O ) (O) .

We have A F E B , K B E B A F K B AF \perp EB, KB \perp EB \Rightarrow AF \parallel KB and A K A E , B F A E A K B F AK \perp AE, BF \perp AE \Rightarrow AK \parallel BF so we can imply that A K B F AKBF is a parallelogram. Let K F A B = I KF \cap AB=I \Rightarrow point I I is the midpoint of A B AB . We have found the coordinates of points A , B A,B so we can find the coordinates of point I I that is ( 3 ; 1 ) (3;1) .

We have O O is the midpoint of E K EK and I I is the midpoint of F K FK so O I = 1 2 E F \overrightarrow{OI}= \frac{1}{2}\overrightarrow{EF} . We have had the coordinates of E , F , I E,F,I so we can imply the coordinates of O O that is ( 3 ; 3 ) (3;3) .

In conclusion, x 0 + y 0 = 3 + 3 = 6 x_0+y_0=3+3= \boxed6

We have AG=EF=4 which means A is at a distance of 4 units from G(1,5). This means there are two possibilities for A. We can have A(1,1) or we can have A(1,9). Why has A(1,9) not been considered?

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You have to bear in mind that EF=GA is completely different from vector EF = vector GA. That's why there is one and only one such point A :)

Leah Jurgens - 4 years ago

From my solution, it seems the condition of BH perpendicular to AC is not needed. H could be any point on diagonal AC, still get the same answer.

Wei Chen - 4 years ago

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Can you post your solution here? I'll really appreciate that!

Leah Jurgens - 4 years ago

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Hi Leah, see the solution I just posted. Cheers!

Wei Chen - 4 years ago
Wei Chen
May 12, 2017

We know EF is parallel to BC, and equals half of BC. From that we get AG = 4, which leads to A=(1,1). Then slope of AE is 2, and we know BC = 2 EF = 8, so AB = 8/2 = 4, which gives B = (5,1). Now we know the midpoint of AB to be (3,1), so the perpendicular bisector of AB is x = 3. To find the circumcenter of ABE, we need to find another perpendicular bisector, and find where it intersects with x = 3. For this we try side AE, by midpoint formula we get the midpoint of AE to be (11/5, 17/5), slope of its perpendicular bisector is -1/2, so the equation for AE's perpendicular bisector is y - 17/5 = -1/2 (x-11/5). Solve this together with x = 3, gives us y = 3. Thus the circumcenter is at (3,3), and answer is 3+3 = 6.

Notice that throughout the solution process, we didn't use the fact that BH is perpendicular to AC, it could be any point on diagonal AC.

Nice but the problem never states that AB=1/2BC though. You just made that up and coincidently it gave out the right answer

Leah Jurgens - 4 years ago

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The slope of AE is 2, which equals BC/AB, since ABCD is a rectangle. So I didn't make that up! I'm not saying the answer is wrong, just that one condition is unnecessary :-)

Wei Chen - 4 years ago

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Well you're right. I never took that into account when I made this problem. I just wanted to challenge people to find the connection between orthocenter and circumcenter

Leah Jurgens - 4 years ago

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@Leah Jurgens Ahh, now I see your intention about orthocenter and circumcenter. Great problem, thanks for making it!

Wei Chen - 4 years ago

And to be honest, if we have found A,B,E then the circumcenter is no problem to find. That's why I said there are a few aproaches but I suggested one

Leah Jurgens - 4 years ago

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