Westford Academy to host Middle School Math Competition
by cyou, Mar 25, 2025, 9:43 PM
Hi AOPS community,
We are excited to announce that Westford Academy (located in Westford, MA) will be hosting its first ever math competition for middle school students (grades 5-8).
Based in Massachusetts, this tournament hosts ambitious and mathematically skilled students in grades 5–8 to compete against other middle school math teams while fostering their problem-solving skills and preparing them to continue enriching their STEM skills in high school and in the future.
This competition will be held on April 12, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM and will feature 3 rounds (team, speed, and accuracy). The problems will be of similar difficulty for AMC 8-10 and were written by USA(J)MO and AIME qualifiers.
If you are in the Massachusetts area and are curious about Mathematics, we cordially invite you to sign up by scanning the QR code on the attached flyer. Please note that teams consist of 4-6 competitors, but if you prefer to register as an individual competitor, you will be randomly placed on a team of other individual competitors. Feel free to refer the attached flyer and website as needed.
https://sites.google.com/westfordk12.us/wamt/home?authuser=2
We are excited to announce that Westford Academy (located in Westford, MA) will be hosting its first ever math competition for middle school students (grades 5-8).
Based in Massachusetts, this tournament hosts ambitious and mathematically skilled students in grades 5–8 to compete against other middle school math teams while fostering their problem-solving skills and preparing them to continue enriching their STEM skills in high school and in the future.
This competition will be held on April 12, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM and will feature 3 rounds (team, speed, and accuracy). The problems will be of similar difficulty for AMC 8-10 and were written by USA(J)MO and AIME qualifiers.
If you are in the Massachusetts area and are curious about Mathematics, we cordially invite you to sign up by scanning the QR code on the attached flyer. Please note that teams consist of 4-6 competitors, but if you prefer to register as an individual competitor, you will be randomly placed on a team of other individual competitors. Feel free to refer the attached flyer and website as needed.
https://sites.google.com/westfordk12.us/wamt/home?authuser=2
USACO US Open
by neeyakkid23, Mar 25, 2025, 12:00 PM
Howd you all do?
Also will a 766 make bronze -> silver?
Also will a 766 make bronze -> silver?
MOP Cutoff Via USAJMO
by imagien_bad, Mar 24, 2025, 10:43 PM
what the yap
by KevinYang2.71, Mar 20, 2025, 12:00 PM
Alice the architect and Bob the builder play a game. First, Alice chooses two points
and
in the plane and a subset
of the plane, which are announced to Bob. Next, Bob marks infinitely many points in the plane, designating each a city. He may not place two cities within distance at most one unit of each other, and no three cities he places may be collinear. Finally, roads are constructed between the cities as follows: for each pair
of cities, they are connected with a road along the line segment
if and only if the following condition holds:
Note:
is directly similar to
if there exists a sequence of rotations, translations, and dilations sending
to
,
to
, and
to
.





For every city
distinct from
and
, there exists
such




that
is directly similar to either
or
.
Alice wins the game if (i) the resulting roads allow for travel between any pair of cities via a finite sequence of roads and (ii) no two roads cross. Otherwise, Bob wins. Determine, with proof, which player has a winning strategy.


Note:








AMC 10.........
by BAM10, Mar 2, 2025, 8:02 PM
I'm in 8th grade and have never taken the AMC 10. I am currently in alg2. I have scored 20 on AMC 8 this year and 34 on the chapter math counts last year. Can I qualify for AIME. Also what should I practice AMC 10 next year?
USA Canada math camp
by Bread10, Mar 2, 2025, 5:48 AM
How difficult is it to get into USA Canada math camp? What should be expected from an accepted applicant in terms of the qualifying quiz, essays and other awards or math context?
[TEST RELEASED] Mock Geometry Test for College Competitions
by Bluesoul, Feb 24, 2025, 9:42 AM
Hi AOPSers,
I have finished writing a mock geometry test for fun and practice for the real college competitions like HMMT/PUMaC/CMIMC... There would be 10 questions and you should finish the test in 60 minutes, the test would be close to the actual test (hopefully). You could sign up under this thread, PM me your answers!. The submission would close on March 31st at 11:59PM PST.
I would create a private discussion forum so everyone could discuss after finishing the test. This is the first mock I've written, please sign up and enjoy geometry!!
~Bluesoul
Discussion forum: Discussion forum
Leaderboard
I have finished writing a mock geometry test for fun and practice for the real college competitions like HMMT/PUMaC/CMIMC... There would be 10 questions and you should finish the test in 60 minutes, the test would be close to the actual test (hopefully). You could sign up under this thread, PM me your answers!. The submission would close on March 31st at 11:59PM PST.
I would create a private discussion forum so everyone could discuss after finishing the test. This is the first mock I've written, please sign up and enjoy geometry!!
~Bluesoul
Discussion forum: Discussion forum
Leaderboard
Quantum-Phantom: 9
QuestionSourcer: 6
SirAppel: 6
NL008: 6
megahertz13: 6
Anonymous: 3
ethanzhang1001: 3
nats123: 3
bjump: 2
Anonymous: 2
Sadas123: 1
Soupboy0: 1
QuestionSourcer: 6
SirAppel: 6
NL008: 6
megahertz13: 6
Anonymous: 3
ethanzhang1001: 3
nats123: 3
bjump: 2
Anonymous: 2
Sadas123: 1
Soupboy0: 1
Attachments:
This post has been edited 12 times. Last edited by Bluesoul, 3 hours ago
2024 AMC 10B Discussion Thread
by LauraZed, Nov 13, 2024, 5:09 PM
Discuss the 2024 AMC 10 B here!
Links to individual discussion threads.
If you want to start a thread to discuss a particular problem, first check the list above to see if it already exists. Please add the tag "2024 AMC 10B" on individual problem threads and include the problem number in the source to make it easier for people to find the thread in the future through tags or searching.
(We're using this "official discussion thread" strategy as a way to keep things more organized. You can create additional threads about the exam if they're for a distinct enough purpose – for example, if they include a poll – but questions/comments about your impressions of the test overall can be discussed in this thread.)
Links to individual discussion threads.
Problem 1 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442598
Problem 2 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442606
Problem 3 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442632
Problem 4 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442645
Problem 5 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442644
Problem 6 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442664
Problem 7 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442621
Problem 8 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442610
Problem 9 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442658
Problem 10 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442603
Problem 11 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442665
Problem 12 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442613
Problem 13 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442637
Problem 14 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442643
Problem 15 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442615
Problem 16 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442681
Problem 17 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442657
Problem 18 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442611
Problem 19 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442684
Problem 20 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442602
Problem 21 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442666
Problem 22 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442646
Problem 23 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442608
Problem 24 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442599
Problem 25 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442671
Problem 2 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442606
Problem 3 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442632
Problem 4 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442645
Problem 5 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442644
Problem 6 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442664
Problem 7 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442621
Problem 8 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442610
Problem 9 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442658
Problem 10 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442603
Problem 11 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442665
Problem 12 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442613
Problem 13 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442637
Problem 14 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442643
Problem 15 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442615
Problem 16 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442681
Problem 17 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442657
Problem 18 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442611
Problem 19 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442684
Problem 20 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442602
Problem 21 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442666
Problem 22 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442646
Problem 23 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442608
Problem 24 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442599
Problem 25 - https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h3442671
If you want to start a thread to discuss a particular problem, first check the list above to see if it already exists. Please add the tag "2024 AMC 10B" on individual problem threads and include the problem number in the source to make it easier for people to find the thread in the future through tags or searching.
(We're using this "official discussion thread" strategy as a way to keep things more organized. You can create additional threads about the exam if they're for a distinct enough purpose – for example, if they include a poll – but questions/comments about your impressions of the test overall can be discussed in this thread.)
This post has been edited 7 times. Last edited by LauraZed, Nov 13, 2024, 6:20 PM
[TEST RELEASED] OMMC Year 4
by DottedCaculator, Apr 23, 2024, 2:31 PM
FINAL LEADERBOARD: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/12RamVH-gQIPN4wibYZVqkx1F2JQuy5Li_8IJ8TqVEyg/htmlview#gid=409219165
Hello to all creative problem solvers,
Do you want to work on a fun, untimed team math competition with amazing questions by MOPpers and IMO & EGMO medalists?
Do you want to have a chance to win thousands in cash and raffle prizes (no matter your skill level)?
Check out the fourth annual iteration of the
Online Monmouth Math Competition!
Online Monmouth Math Competition, or OMMC, is a 501c3 accredited nonprofit organization managed by adults, college students, and high schoolers which aims to give talented high school and middle school students an exciting way to develop their skills in mathematics.
Our website: https://www.ommcofficial.org/
Our Discord (5000+ members): https://tinyurl.com/joinommc
Test portal: https://ommc-test-portal.vercel.app/
This is not a local competition; any student 18 or younger anywhere in the world can attend. We have changed some elements of our contest format, so read carefully and thoroughly. Join our Discord or monitor this thread for updates and test releases.
How hard is it?
We plan to raffle out a TON of prizes over all competitors regardless of performance. So just submit: a few minutes of your time will give you a great chance to win amazing prizes!
How are the problems?
You can check out our past problems and sample problems here:
https://www.ommcofficial.org/sample
https://www.ommcofficial.org/2022-documents
https://www.ommcofficial.org/2023-documents
https://www.ommcofficial.org/ommc-amc
How will the test be held?/How do I sign up?
Solo teams?
Test Policy
Timeline:
Main Round: May 19th - May 26th
Test Portal Released. The Main Round of the contest is held. The Main Round consists of 25 questions that each have a numerical answer. Teams will have the entire time interval to work on the questions. They can submit any time during the interval. Teams are free to edit their submissions before the period ends, even after they submit.
Final Round: May 28th - May 30th
The top placing teams will qualify for this invitational round (7 questions). The final round consists of 7 proof questions. Teams again will have the entire time interval to work on these questions and can submit their proofs any time during this interval. Teams are free to edit their submissions before the period ends, even after they submit.
Conclusion of Competition: Early June
Solutions will be released, winners announced, and prizes sent out to winners.
Scoring:
Prizes:
I have more questions. Whom do I ask?
We hope for your participation, and good luck!
OMMC staff
OMMC’S 2024 EVENTS ARE SPONSORED BY:
Hello to all creative problem solvers,
Do you want to work on a fun, untimed team math competition with amazing questions by MOPpers and IMO & EGMO medalists?

Do you want to have a chance to win thousands in cash and raffle prizes (no matter your skill level)?
Check out the fourth annual iteration of the
Online Monmouth Math Competition!
Online Monmouth Math Competition, or OMMC, is a 501c3 accredited nonprofit organization managed by adults, college students, and high schoolers which aims to give talented high school and middle school students an exciting way to develop their skills in mathematics.
Our website: https://www.ommcofficial.org/
Our Discord (5000+ members): https://tinyurl.com/joinommc
Test portal: https://ommc-test-portal.vercel.app/
This is not a local competition; any student 18 or younger anywhere in the world can attend. We have changed some elements of our contest format, so read carefully and thoroughly. Join our Discord or monitor this thread for updates and test releases.
How hard is it?
We designed OMMC to be accessible to beginners but also challenging to experts. Earlier questions on the main round will be around the difficulty of easy questions from the AMC 8 and AMC 10/12, and later questions will be at the difficulty of the hardest questions from the AIME. Our most skilled teams are invited to compete in a newly developed invitational final round consisting of difficult proof questions. We hope that teams will have fun and think deeply about the problems on the test, no matter their skill level.
We plan to raffle out a TON of prizes over all competitors regardless of performance. So just submit: a few minutes of your time will give you a great chance to win amazing prizes!
How are the problems?
Only the best problems by our panel of dedicated and talented problem writers have been selected. Hundreds upon hundreds of problems have been comprehensively reviewed by our panel of equally wonderful testsolvers. Our content creation staff has achieved pretty much every mathematical achievement possible! Staff members have attended MOP, participated in MIT-PRIMES, RSI, SPARC, won medals at EGMO, IMO, RMM, etc. Our staff members have contributed to countless student-led math organizations and competitions in the past and we all have a high degree of mathematical experience under our belts. We believe OMMC Year 4 contains some of our best work thus far.
You can check out our past problems and sample problems here:
https://www.ommcofficial.org/sample
https://www.ommcofficial.org/2022-documents
https://www.ommcofficial.org/2023-documents
https://www.ommcofficial.org/ommc-amc
How will the test be held?/How do I sign up?
We highly recommend competitors join our Community Discord for the latest updates on the competition, as well as for finding team members to team up with. Each team is between 1 and 4 people, inclusive. Each competitor in a team has to be 18 or younger. You won’t have to sign up right now. Look out for a test portal link by which teams can register and access the test. Teams will put in their registration information as they submit the test.
However, we do encourage you to “sign up” on this thread, just like how you might with a mock contest. This isn’t required to take the test nor does it force you to take the test. But it’s a great way to show support and bump the thread to the top of the forums, so we appreciate it. (Also a great way to find teammates!)
However, we do encourage you to “sign up” on this thread, just like how you might with a mock contest. This isn’t required to take the test nor does it force you to take the test. But it’s a great way to show support and bump the thread to the top of the forums, so we appreciate it. (Also a great way to find teammates!)
Solo teams?
Solo participants are allowed and will be treated simply as one man teams. They will be eligible for the same prizes as teams with multiple people.
Test Policy
Our test will be held completely online and untimed. We do not allow the use of anything other than writing utensils, scratch paper, compass, ruler/straightedge, and a single four function calculator (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).
Timeline:
Main Round: May 19th - May 26th
Test Portal Released. The Main Round of the contest is held. The Main Round consists of 25 questions that each have a numerical answer. Teams will have the entire time interval to work on the questions. They can submit any time during the interval. Teams are free to edit their submissions before the period ends, even after they submit.
Final Round: May 28th - May 30th
The top placing teams will qualify for this invitational round (7 questions). The final round consists of 7 proof questions. Teams again will have the entire time interval to work on these questions and can submit their proofs any time during this interval. Teams are free to edit their submissions before the period ends, even after they submit.
Conclusion of Competition: Early June
Solutions will be released, winners announced, and prizes sent out to winners.
Scoring:
For the main round, there are 25 computational (number answer questions). Each of the 25 questions will be worth 2 points, for a total of 50 points. Ties are broken by the last (highest numbered) question that one team solved and the other team didn’t, MATHCOUNTS-style. The team that solved this question would be given preference. For example, if teams A and B both have scores of 24, but Team A got question 20 wrong and Team B got question 25 wrong, then team A will be given preference over team B because team A solved question 25.
The top ~10-15 teams will move onto the final round, where there are 7 proof questions. Each of the 7 questions is worth a different number of points (the specific weighting will be given to each of the finalist teams). The Olympiad round in total will be worth 50 points. A team’s total OMMC index will be the sum of the main round score and the final round score (out of 50+50=100), and teams will be ranked on their OMMC index (if there are ties, they will be broken by the aforementioned main round tie breaking system).
The top ~10-15 teams will move onto the final round, where there are 7 proof questions. Each of the 7 questions is worth a different number of points (the specific weighting will be given to each of the finalist teams). The Olympiad round in total will be worth 50 points. A team’s total OMMC index will be the sum of the main round score and the final round score (out of 50+50=100), and teams will be ranked on their OMMC index (if there are ties, they will be broken by the aforementioned main round tie breaking system).
Prizes:
Prize List So Far:
- Cash (TBD)
- 12 3B1B Plushies
- 4 3B1B Notebooks
- 60 Wolfram Alpha Notebook Subscriptions
- Desmos Swag Pack
- 4 $25 AoPS coupons
- ~200 books (provided by Nontrivial Fellowship)
In past years we’ve received $5000+ in prizes. Stay tuned for more details, but we intend to give prizes to all teams on the leaderboard, as well as raffle out a TON of prizes over all competitors. So just submit: a few minutes of your time will give you a great chance to win amazing prizes!
- Cash (TBD)
- 12 3B1B Plushies
- 4 3B1B Notebooks
- 60 Wolfram Alpha Notebook Subscriptions
- Desmos Swag Pack
- 4 $25 AoPS coupons
- ~200 books (provided by Nontrivial Fellowship)
In past years we’ve received $5000+ in prizes. Stay tuned for more details, but we intend to give prizes to all teams on the leaderboard, as well as raffle out a TON of prizes over all competitors. So just submit: a few minutes of your time will give you a great chance to win amazing prizes!
I have more questions. Whom do I ask?
We respond most quickly on our community discord, but you can also contact us through email via the ommcofficial@gmail.com address.
We hope for your participation, and good luck!
OMMC staff
OMMC’S 2024 EVENTS ARE SPONSORED BY:
- Nontrivial Fellowship
- Citadel
- SPARC
- Jane Street
- And counting!
Attachments:
This post has been edited 5 times. Last edited by DottedCaculator, Jul 31, 2024, 1:21 AM
ommc
L
The Ex-points and the Queue-points - Part Two
by math_pi_rate, Mar 30, 2019, 8:12 PM
As promised by me in the shout box, here's the second part to the intro of these beautiful points (I guess a little late
). I'll try to cover some nice and hidden applications of this configuration, touching upon a variety of problems (hopefully
). So, without further ado, let's start this 'safar' (I have tried to arrange the problems in order of difficulty):-
PROBLEM-1 (APMO 2012 Problem 4)
Let
be an acute triangle. Denote by
the foot of the perpendicular line drawn from the point
to the side
, by
the midpoint of
, and by
the orthocenter of
. Let
be the point of intersection of the circumcircle
of the triangle
and the half line
, and
be the point of intersection (other than
) of the line
and the circle
. Prove that
must hold.
Solution: By Property 1, we know that
is the
-Queue point of
(rename it as
from now on). Seeing this point, we add in the
-Ex point
. Also note that we are supposed to show that
is harmonic, for which we will require some sort of perspectivity. As all points are closely linked to the point
, so it is our first and foremost choice for perspector. Using the fact that
is harmonic (I guess this has been given in the proof of Property-3), and with the help of Property-1, we get that 
REMARK: Remember this problem as a property itself. Another similar problem is Brazil MO 2011 Problem 5. The details of the proof are left to the reader as an exercise (If someone wants, they can post their proof in the comments section later).
PROBLEM-2 (Vietnam MO 2019 Problem 6)
Given an acute triangle
and
be its circumcircle, and
is its orthocenter. Let
be midpoints of
, respectively.
are the feet of the altitudes from
and
, respectively. Let
symmetry with
through
.
intersects
at
,
intersects
at
.
a)
intersects smaller arc
of
at
. Prove that
are concyclic.
b)
intersect
at
(
), respectively. Prove that
are concurent.
Solution: As there are too many points on a single circle (namely the nine-point circle), and the intersections of some lines formed by them is concerned, so we resort to Pascal. Trying to form the desired intersections, we apply Pascal to
, to find that
are in fact collinear. At first glance, the given conditions do not give any more significant information (atleast not to me
). So we look at what we are supposed to prove. As the point
must be fixed, we get interested in finding that point first. Suppose we assume that what we are supposed to prove is true (Remember this trick). Then by Radical Axes Theorem on
, we get that
passes through the
-Ex point
of
. Wow! That's interesting. But again we are stuck. At this point of time, I always try to incorporate the fact that
is harmonic. Taking perspectivity from
, we get that
So we arrive at the most crucial part of the solution. We just need to show that the line
is the
-symmedian, in which case the above harmonic bundles (and some use of Power of Point in place of Radical Axes Theorem) will do the job.
Now, the main question is how to show that
is the
-symmedian. Because of the weird definition of
, there's not much one can do apart from applying Pascal's Theorem again. Trying to find some nice hexagons involving
, we stumble upon
. This is nice, as we know that
, and so we get that
. Now, it is some manipulations before finding a way out. What I did was take notice of the fact that
lies on
, and so the reflection of
in
(say
) must lie on
. This is quite helpful, because we also know that
is antiparallel wrt
(as
). But,
bisects
, which directly gives that it must be the
-symmedian (this is quite well known I guess). Thus, we are done with Part (a).
For Part (b), we again use our friend this evening, Pascal (the motivation comes from the number of points involved on the circumcircle of
). This is easy, and with some trial and error, one easily gets the two desired hexagons
and
, after which one can finish using the fact that
are concurrent.
REMARK: This solution illustrates the power of Pascal. Most of the students are aware of it, but still its true nature is never used to the fullest. You can find my original solution here.
So let's move on to some TST problems (due to time constraint, I'll only be able to take up 3 problems; readers can include more problems in the comments section if they wish to
).
PROBLEM-3 (Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018 TST Day 1 Problem 1)
In acute triangle
let
,
and
be foots of perpedicular from
,
and
to
,
and
, respectively. Let
and
be points on line
such that
and
. Prove that 
Solution: Let
be the midpoint of
(we introduce to get a link to
). Then
is cyclic. Our solution is motivated by this well-known lemma and its converse (Lemma 9.17 in EGMO). Without knowing that lemma, it might be difficult to produce this proof (Basically I am just telling you to learn it ASAP
). According to this lemma, if
denotes the
-Ex point of
, then
(as
is harmonic). But,
, so we get
. Combining these two equalities, we see that
is cyclic. As
, so we get that in fact
bisects
externally. This is the crucial part of the solution. After this it is just some angle chasing (unfortunately there's not much motivation for that; you just try to find nice angles). The full proof can be found here.
REMARK: All the above solutions show how important the harmonic bundle
is. Always try to use this.
PROBLEM-4 (USA TSTST 2016 Problem 2)
Let
be a scalene triangle with orthocenter
and circumcenter
. Denote by
,
the midpoints of
,
. Suppose the circle
with diameter
meets the circumcircle of
at
, and meets line
at a point
. The tangent to
at
meets line
at
. Show that the circumcircles of
and
intersect at a point
on
.
Solution: Let's sort this information first (This is really important to all geo problems). By its definition,
is the
-Queue point, and
is the
-Humpty point. Also,
lies on
, which is nothing but the perpendicular bisector of
. So
, which means that
is also tangent to
. So, in quadrilateral
,
and
(all tangents taken wrt
). Applying Pascal on
and
, we get that
are collinear (this is true for all cyclic quadrilaterals; learn this result as a fact as it is quite useful). Now, these two new intersection points move us closer towards a complete quadrilateral. So let's "complete" this complete quadrilateral configuration (pun intended
). We add in the
-Ex point
. As discussed in Problem-3 of Part One, this should motivate us to look for Brokard's Theorem. Then using Brokard (and the collinearity discussed earlier), we get that
is the polar of
wrt
. So we have removed point
, and now it suffices to show that
lies on the polar of
.
Let's look at the two circles now. Using Properties-1,2 and 3, we know that
, which means that
. Suppose what we are supposed to prove is true, i.e.
is the polar of
wrt
. But,
(as
). So we get that
must in fact be the inverse of
wrt
. As the original direction is a bit difficult to prove, we will try to use phantom points. Let
be the inverse of
wrt
. As
, so
. Thus it suffices to show that
, which is equivalent to proving that
(since
are collinear). However,
is nothing but the power of
wrt
(as
is the inverse of
in
). Thus, 
REMARK: To be honest, this problem doesn't require any remarks
. A "complete" solution can be seen here.
PROBLEM-5 (2015 Taiwan TST Round 3 Quiz 1 Problem 2)
Let
be the circumcircle of the triangle
. Two circles
are tangent to each of the circle
and the rays
, with
interior to
,
exterior to
. The common tangent of
and the common tangent of
intersect at the point
. Let
be the midpoint of the arc
(not containing the point
) on the circle
, and the segment
be the diameter of
. Prove that
, and
are collinear.
Solution: This problem is one of my favourite problems, with a short, yet beautiful solution. Seeing the involvement of both the
-mixtilinear incircle and excircle, we perform
inversion, to get the following equivalent problem:-
We are supposed to show that
is cyclic; or equivalently that
. But, applying Property-3 to
(The only major difficulty in this problem), this is only possible if
is the
-Ex point of
. As
is also the foot of
-altitude of
, so it suffices to prove that
is harmonic (See the Remark given after Problem-3 above). Now, we again turn our attention back to
. Then one can easily finish as given in my solution here.
REMARK: After reading the solution above, one might be compelled to think that this problem is not that hard. However, according to me, the main difficulty one faces in this solution is to quickly turn one's attention from one triangle to another. This is really important, and so I'll again bring the reader's attention to this point. Basically, do not be constrained by the reference triangle given in the problem. Try exploring other triangles. Often hard problems are simply restatements of well known facts wrt some other triangle. Two triangles which easily interchange amongst themselves are the excentral triangle and the orthic triangle. I prefer working with the orthocenter configuration, but your preference might be something else. A nice example of this is USAMO 2017 P3.
With this, I come to an end to this section. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed this post (If that is so, feel free to comment). My next post will most probably come after IMOTC only now, so with that I bid adieu to all. Sayonara


PROBLEM-1 (APMO 2012 Problem 4)
Let

















Solution: By Property 1, we know that










REMARK: Remember this problem as a property itself. Another similar problem is Brazil MO 2011 Problem 5. The details of the proof are left to the reader as an exercise (If someone wants, they can post their proof in the comments section later).
PROBLEM-2 (Vietnam MO 2019 Problem 6)
Given an acute triangle

















a)





b)





Solution: As there are too many points on a single circle (namely the nine-point circle), and the intersections of some lines formed by them is concerned, so we resort to Pascal. Trying to form the desired intersections, we apply Pascal to














Now, the main question is how to show that



















For Part (b), we again use our friend this evening, Pascal (the motivation comes from the number of points involved on the circumcircle of




REMARK: This solution illustrates the power of Pascal. Most of the students are aware of it, but still its true nature is never used to the fullest. You can find my original solution here.
So let's move on to some TST problems (due to time constraint, I'll only be able to take up 3 problems; readers can include more problems in the comments section if they wish to

PROBLEM-3 (Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018 TST Day 1 Problem 1)
In acute triangle

















Solution: Let
















REMARK: All the above solutions show how important the harmonic bundle

PROBLEM-4 (USA TSTST 2016 Problem 2)
Let





















Solution: Let's sort this information first (This is really important to all geo problems). By its definition,


























Let's look at the two circles now. Using Properties-1,2 and 3, we know that

























REMARK: To be honest, this problem doesn't require any remarks

PROBLEM-5 (2015 Taiwan TST Round 3 Quiz 1 Problem 2)
Let




















Solution: This problem is one of my favourite problems, with a short, yet beautiful solution. Seeing the involvement of both the


Inverted problem wrote:
Let
and
be the
-intouch and
-extouch point in
,
be the foot of internal angle bisector of
, and
be the foot of the
-altitude. Let
be the
-Humpty point of
. Show that
is cyclic.
























REMARK: After reading the solution above, one might be compelled to think that this problem is not that hard. However, according to me, the main difficulty one faces in this solution is to quickly turn one's attention from one triangle to another. This is really important, and so I'll again bring the reader's attention to this point. Basically, do not be constrained by the reference triangle given in the problem. Try exploring other triangles. Often hard problems are simply restatements of well known facts wrt some other triangle. Two triangles which easily interchange amongst themselves are the excentral triangle and the orthic triangle. I prefer working with the orthocenter configuration, but your preference might be something else. A nice example of this is USAMO 2017 P3.
With this, I come to an end to this section. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed this post (If that is so, feel free to comment). My next post will most probably come after IMOTC only now, so with that I bid adieu to all. Sayonara

This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by math_pi_rate, Dec 4, 2019, 6:56 PM
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