2015 USAMO Problems/Problem 2
Problem
Quadrilateral is inscribed in circle with and . Let be a variable point on segment . Line meets again at (other than ). Point lies on arc of such that is perpendicular to . Let denote the midpoint of chord . As varies on segment , show that moves along a circle.
Solution
Solution 1: Complex bash
WLOG, let the circle be the unit circle centered at the origin, , where .
Let angle , which is an acute angle, , then .
Angle , . Let , then .
The condition yields: (E1)
Use identities , , , we obtain . (E1')
The condition that is on the circle yields , namely . (E2)
is the mid-point on the hypotenuse of triangle , hence , yielding . (E3)
Expand (E3), using (E2) to replace with , and using (E1') to replace with , and we obtain , namely , which is a circle centered at with radius .
Solution 2: Mostly synthetic
Let the midpoint of be . We claim that moves along a circle with radius .
We will show that , which implies that , and as is fixed, this implies the claim.
by the median formula on.
by the median formula on .
.
As , from right triangle .
By , .
Since is the circumcenter of , and is the circumradius, the expression is the power of point with respect to . However, as is also the power of point with respect to , this implies that .
By ,
Finally, by AA similarity ( and ), so .
By , , so , as desired.