Assorted Geometry (J)

Kevin Xian
31 March - 1 April, 2021

**What did the little acorn say when he grew up? Geometry**

1 Strategy:
While there definitely isn’t a guaranteed way to attempt every geometry question, there are definitely
some general tactics that you should be familiar with.

• Know your basic theorems very well. It’s also a good idea to know the proofs of all of them (except
maybe the most basic axioms), since it’ll give you a better understanding of how exactly they work
- this is especially true for the circles centres (orthocentre, circumcentre, incentre, centroid).

• Draw a neat (and large) diagram - this will help you notice things like parallel lines, cyclic quads,
right angles, congruent/similar triangles etc. that you definitely wouldn’t with a messy one. Extra
points if you use multiple colours!

• Angle Chase! Label something α and go around the diagram deducing as many angles as you can.
Repeat with β, γ until you find out some relations or new facts.

• Look for cyclic quadrilaterals - often this will help you continue an angle chase you’ve previously
been stuck on. Know that Bowties ⇐⇒ Opposite angles supplementary

• Get your hands dirty! Try lots of constructions that you think will help. If it doesn’t there’s no
shame in just drawing another diagram.

• Work backwards - assume what you want to prove is true, and then see what deductions you get
from there.

2 Problems
2.1 Warm Ups
1. Prove that the sum of the exterior angles of any polygon is 360◦ .

2. Prove that equal chords of a circle are equidistant from the centre.

3. Let P be on the hypotenuse BC of right angled triangle ABC such that PA = PB. Prove that P
is the midpoint of BC.

4. Let ABC be a triangle with circumcircle Γ. Let D, E be points on AB, AC such that DE is
parallel to the tangent to Γ at A. Prove that BDEC is cyclic.

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 5. Let ABCD be a quadrilateral with perpendicular diagonals AC, BD. Prove that AB 2 + CD2 =
AD2 + BC 2 .

6. Prove that the tangent is perpendicular to the radius at the chord of contact. (Try to not use any
theorems that would trivialise this)

7. Let Γ1 and Γ2 be circles which are internally tangent at X, with Γ2 inside Γ1 . A line ` intersects
Γ1 at A and D and intersects Γ2 at B and C such that A, B, C and D are in that order. Show
that ∠AXB = ∠CXD.

• Now, assume that ` is tangent to Γ2 at a point B, and intersects Γ1 at A and C. Prove that
∠AXB = ∠BXC.

8. Let AB be the diameter of a circle Γ. Let C and D be points on the tangent of Γ at point B such
that B is between C and D. Let AC and AD intersect Γ again at P and Q. Prove that CP QD
is cyclic.

9. Two chords AB and AC of a circle are equal. D and E are points on the minor arc AC such that
CD = DE. When produced, BD and AE meet at F. Prove that AB = AF.

2.2 Hope you’re warmed up

1. In rectangle ABCD, CB is extended to E such that CE = CA. F is the midpoint of AE. Prove
DF ⊥ F B.

2. A and B are two points on a circle and K is a point that is free to move on the minor arc AB.
The tangents at A and B meet at C. The tangent at K cuts CA and CB at P and Q respectively.
Prove that the perimeter of 4CP Q is constant as K moves on the arc B.

3. (Pivot Theorem) Let ABC be a acute triangle with points D, E, F on sides BC, CA and AB
respectively. Prove that the circles through EFA, DEC and BFD concur at a point P.

4. (Simson’s Line Theorem) Prove that the projections of a point P onto the sides of a triangle ABC
are collinear if and only if P lies on the circumcircle of triangle ABC.

5. (Miquel’s Theorem) Four straight (non-parallel) lines determine four triangles. Prove that the
circumcircles of these triangles all pass through a common point.

6. Two circles intersect at A and B. A line through A cuts the circles at P and Q. A second line
through A intersects at R and S. Prove that ∠PBQ = ∠RBS.

7. A, B and C are three points on a circle with centre O. The tangent at A meets BC produced at
T. X is the midpoint of BC. Prove that ∠AOT = ∠AXT

8. Prove angle bisector theorem: In 4ABC let D be a point on BC such that AD bisects ∠BAC.
Prove that AB
AC
= BD
DC
.

9. Consider a triangle with angles 72, 72, 36. Let the equal sides have length 1. Find the exact
length of the third side.

10. A, B, C and D are four points on the circumference of a circle. DA is produced to a point E. The
bisectors of angles BAE and BCD meet at X. Prove that X is on the circle through A, B, C and
D.

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 11. In 4ABC, let D be the foot of the perpendicular from A to BC. Let H be the orthocentre, and
extend AD to meet the circumcircle of 4ABC at K. Prove that DH = DK.
12. Inside a circle with centre O and radius r, two circles with centre A and B are drawn. The
two circles touch each other externally and touch the original circle internally. Prove that the
perimeter of triangle AOB is 2r.
13. Two circles intersect at A and B, and a common tangent touches them at P and Q. A chord PR of
one circle is drawn parallel to QA. RA produced meets the other circle at S. Prove that PAkQS.
14. Let P be a point on a circle with diameter AB. Drop the perpendicular from P to meet AB at
N . Prove AP 2 = AN · AB.

2.3 Getting Trickier

1. Given a quadrilateral ABCD, prove that the lines joining the midpoints of the sides AB, BC, CD
and DA form a parallelogram.
2. Let Γ1 , Γ2 be two circles that intersect at A, B. If PQ is a common tangent to the circles (with P
on Γ1 and Q on Γ2 , prove that AB bisects PQ.
3. ABCD is a cyclic quadrilateral whose diagonals intersect at E. A circle is drawn through the points
A, B and E. Prove that FG, the tangent to E to this circle is parallel to CD.
4. P is the midpoint of a chord AB of a circle with centre O. XY is a chord containing the point P.
The tangent at X meets AB produced at N. The tangent at Y meets BA produced at M. Prove
that POYM and PONX are cyclic quadrilaterals.
Hence show that AM = BN. (Hint: draw some lines from the centre)
5. PQ and CD are parallel chords of a circle. The tangent at D cuts PQ produced at T. B is the
points of contact of the other tangent to the circle from T. BC intersects PQ at R. Prove that
BTDR is a cyclic quadrilateral. Hence show that ∠BRT = ∠DRT.
6. Prove that H is the incentre of the orthic triangle. (i.e. the triangle formed by the three feet of
the altitudes)
7. In 4ABC, AB = AC. Let D be a point on AB and E be a point on AC extended such that
BD = CE. Let DE intersect BC at F . Prove that DF = EF . (Hint: draw a line through D
parallel to BC)
• Use a similar technique to prove Menelaus’ Theorem: Let D, E, F be collinear points on line
AB, BC, CA respectively. Then:
BA DF EC
· · =1
AD F E CB
8. Let ABC be an acute angled triangle with ∠ACB = 2∠ABC. Let P be the foot of the altitude
from A. Show that AC + PC = BP.
9. Prove Menelaus’ Theorem and Ceva’s Theorems using areas.
10. Let ABCD be a quadrilateral. Prove that the incircles of ABC and ADC are tangent to each other
if and only if ABCD has an incircle.
11. Let P be a point inside 4ABC. Prove that PA + PB < CA + CB.

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2.4 Good Luck
1. Given 4ABC with circumcentre O and orthocentre H prove that

• ∠BAO = ∠CAO
• Let M be the midpoint of side BC. Prove that AH = 2OM (hint: find a nice way to double
the length of OM using the circumcircle)
• Let G be the centroid of 4ABC. Prove that the AG = 2GM
• (Euler line) Consequently, show that O, G and H are collinear.

2. Given a square ABCD, let P be a point in ABCD such that P A = P B and ∠P AB = 15◦ . Prove
that P CD is an equilateral triangle.

3. Let ABCD be a square, and let P, Q be points on sides BC, CD respectively such that ∠P AQ =
45◦ . Prove that BP + DQ = P Q.

4. Let P be a point inside triangle ABC such that P lies on the median AM and ∠BPC + ∠BAC =
180◦ . Prove that ∠PAB = ∠PBV.

5. (9 point circle) Prove that there is a circle that passes through the midpoints of the sides of a
triangle, the feet of the altitudes of the triangle and also the midpoints of the segments joining
the orthocentre to the three vertices. (Hint: Pick the right four at a time)

6. Let X be a point inside parallelogram ABCD such that ∠ABX = ∠ADX. Prove that ∠DAX =
∠DCX (Hint: try ’moving’ stuff around to make the angle condition nicer)

7. Let ABCD be a square. Find all points P in the plane, which are not the vertices of the square
such that
∠AP B + ∠CP D = 180◦

8. Let A be a point exterior to circle Γ. A line through A meets Γ at points B and C. A second line
through A meets Γ at points D and E where D is between A and E. The parallel through D to
BC meets the circle Γ for a second time at G. The lines BV and EG meet at M . Prove that:
1 1 1
= +
AM AB AC

9. Let the incircle of 4 ABC meet BC, AC, AB at D, E, F respectively. Let the line through E
parallel to BC meet F D, AD at J, K respectively. Prove K is the midpoint of JE.

2.5 Afterword
I’m going to apologise in advance for any typos in this lecture. Hopefully, the worst of them is limited
to only spelling mistakes, but if you do find anything please let me know! Also, a special thanks goes to
all my previous geometry lecturers, from whom I have shamelessly plagiarised some questions on this
handout.
If you have any questions about the sheet (or just any questions in general) you can contact me at
kevxian@gmail.com