Circle through the Incenter And Antiparallels

The applet below illustrates problem 7 from the 2009 Australian Mathematical Olympiad.

Let I be the incenter of a triangle ABC in which AC ≠ BC. Let Γ be the circle passing through A, I and B. Suppose Γ intersects the line AC at A and X and intersects the line BC at B and Y . Show that AX = BY.

The condition AC ≠ BC is obviously a red herring as, in this case, A = X and B = Y. The applet illustrates a fifth solution (see below) to the problem.


This applet requires Sun's Java VM 2 which your browser may perceive as a popup. Which it is not. If you want to see the applet work, visit Sun's website at http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp, download and install Java VM and enjoy the applet.


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Solution

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Copyright © 1996-2015 Alexander Bogomolny

Let I be the incenter of a triangle ABC in which AC ≠ BC. Let Γ be the circle passing through A, I and B. Suppose Γ intersects the line AC at A and X and intersects the line BC at B and Y . Show that AX = BY.


This applet requires Sun's Java VM 2 which your browser may perceive as a popup. Which it is not. If you want to see the applet work, visit Sun's website at http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp, download and install Java VM and enjoy the applet.


Buy this applet
What if applet does not run?

This is a well known fact that a circle through two vertices of a triangle cuts a chord (XY in the applet) antiparallel to the side joining the two vertices (AB in the applet).

In particular this means that ∠BAX = ∠BYX. These angles are subtended by the arcs BXA and YBX. For the arcs (depending on the layout and assuming J is the second point of intersection of the circle with CI), either

 BXA= BJX + XA,
 YBX= YB + BJX,

or

 BXA= BIX + XA,
 YBX= YB + BIX.

In both cases the arcs XA and YB are equal, implying the identity of the subtended chords.

There are five solutions in all:

Red Herrings: a Sample List

Related material
Read more...

  • What Is Antiparallel?
  • Antiparallel via Three Reflections
  • Symmedian and Antiparallel
  • Tucker Circles
  • Symmedian and 2 Antiparallels
  • Circle through the Incenter And Antiparallels
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    Copyright © 1996-2015 Alexander Bogomolny

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