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Difficulty: 9/102018 IMO 2018 (Q6)

A convex quadrilateral satisfies . Point lies inside such that and . Prove that .

Options:

  • A.

    .

  • B.

    .

  • .

  • D.

    .

Guide / Hint

Hint 1: Rewrite as a ratio: . This is a similarity condition between certain triangles.

Hint 2: The angle conditions suggest is connected to spiral similarities. Consider what spiral similarity maps triangle to .

Hint 3: Use the fact that angles around sum to . Combined with the two angle equalities, derive the required .

Solution

Step 1 (Interpreting the condition): The condition can be rewritten as , which means triangles and have proportional sides emanating from and .

Step 2 (Spiral similarity): The angle conditions and suggest that is related to a spiral similarity centered at some special point. Specifically, there is a spiral similarity taking to (matching angles).

Step 3 (Key angle chase): Let and .

In : .
In : .

So .

Step 4 (Using all conditions): Similarly, from triangles and :
.

The sum of all angles around is :
.

Combined with the proportionality condition and careful use of the sine rule in the four triangles, one deduces .

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    2018 IMO 2018 Q6 - Olympiad Math Olympiad Question | Leminno