1 Geometry

Initially your stumbling block is going to be not knowing the right tools to solve a problem.
This will hopefully change very quickly. Once it does, youre back to the old How would I
have thought of that?
Ive never found a particularly satisfying answer for this question, partially because I dont
claim to understand what geometric intuition is. I hope the answer is not recognizing
known congurations; however, this turns out to be an extremely important skill in many
problems1 . One of the most famous is Yufei Zhaos Cyclic Quadrilaterals The Big Picture,
which can be found online at http://yufeizhao.com/olympiad/cyclic_quad.pdf. If you
are comfortable with everything in the rst few sections, you should read this instead.
Those of you who are just setting out should take the time to learn the basic tools well
rst. I think Ive included the majority of them here. Anyways, here are some general tips.

Draw large, in-scale diagrams, if you can aord the time. Note the pluralization!
At worst, this will prevent you from trying to prove something that is false. At best,
this will suggest something that is true. (This is why drawing more than one diagram
is helpful.)

Work both forwards and backwards. One of the really nice things about geometry
is that you can often go in both directions. If you keep a list of things you know and
things you want, you are done the moment something appears on both lists.

Simplify the problem. In that vein, you can often work backwards and simplify the
end condition. If you can eliminate entire points or entire lines, this is usually a good
thing. Problem 7 from the TSTST 2012 is a really good example of this which I will
show you later.

Phantom points. Lets say ABC is inscribed in , D is the intersection of with

some line , and you want to prove D lies on a line 2 . Its often easier to let 1 and 2
intersect at D and try to prove that ABCD is cyclic.

Use all the givens. Occasionally there will be a screwball problem where one of the
conditions isnt necessary, but usually you do need all the conditions. If you havent
used all the conditions, then theres no way you can solve the problem.

Mark information as you nd it. If two important angles are equal, draw them in.
If a quadrilateral is cyclic, make a note of this; I like to circle the four points rather
than try and draw in a circumcircle. (And for this, I usually use dierent colored pens).

1
Cough 2012 TSTST, Problem 4.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.1 Computation in Triangles

1.1.1 Notation
Let ABC be triangle. Let a, b, c denote the lengths BC, CA, AB. Let K denote the area
of ABC. Let s = a+b+c 2 . Let R be the radius of the circumcircle of ABC, called the
circumradius, and let r bet he radius of the incircle of ABC, called the inradius.
For arbitrary points X, Y , and Z, [XY Z] will denote the area of XY Z.

1.1.2 Tools
These are all pretty useful things to know. They also happen to be not too dicult to prove,
so I will let you attempt to do so.

1. (Extended Sine Law) Prove that

a b c
= = = 2R
sin A sin B sin C
a
by showing sin A = 2R, via constructing a diameter with one endpoint at C.

2. (Areas) Prove that

K= s(s a)(s b)(s c)
1 1 1
= ab sin C = bc sin A = ca sin B
2 2 2
= sr
abc
=
4R

3. (Stewarts Theorem2 ) Let D be a point on BC. Denote n = DC, m = DB and

d = AD. Prove that
man + dad = bmb + cnc

The above lemmas are useful for computational geometry; in particular, the second one
lets you solve for r and R given a, b, c, etc., and so on.

2
A man and his dad put a bomb in the sink.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.2 Triangle Centers

1.2.1 Vocabulary Lesson
Let ABC be a triangle. Then

Denition. The orthocenter of ABC, usually denoted by H, is the intersection of the

perpendiculars from A to BC, B to CA and C to AB.

Denition. The centroid of ABC, usually denoted by G, is the intersection of the lines
joining the midpoint of a side with the opposite vertices (i.e. the medians).

Denition. The incenter of ABC, usually denoted by I, is the intersection of the angle
bisectors of the angles of ABC. It is also the center of a circle tangent to all three sides,
called the incircle.

Denition. The circumcenter of ABC, usually denoted by O, is the center of the unique
circle passing through ABC, which is called the circumcircle.

In a few moments, you will prove that these points do exist.

1.2.2 Cevas Theorem

A cevian is a line joining one of the vertices of a triangle to a point on the opposite side.
There is a nice criterion for when three cevians are concurrent, as follows:

Theorem 2 (Ceva). In ABC, point D, E, and F lie on BC, CA and AB. Then AD,
BE and CF concur if and only if
BD CE AF
= 1.
DC EA F B

F
E
P

B D C

Figure 1.1: Cevas Theorem. The cevians concur at a point P .

Exercise. Let P be a point on the cevian AD of triangle ABC.

BD [BP D] [BAD]
(i) Prove that DC = [DP C] = [DAC] .

BD [BP A]
(ii) Use the above to show that DC = [CP A] .

(iii) Use this to deduce Cevas Theorem.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.2.3 Problems
1. (Trig Ceva) Let AD, BE and CF be cevians of a triangle ABC. Prove that they
concur if and only if
sin BAD sin CBE sin ACF
= 1.
sin CAD sin ABE sin BCF

2. Let ABC be a triangle and denote by M the midpoint of BC. A point P is selected
on AM . BP meets AC at J, and CP meets AB at K. Show that JK BC.

3. Prove that the centroid, orthocenter, circumcenter, and incenter all exist, using either
Ceva or Trig Ceva, or otherwise.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.3 More on Length Chasing

1.3.1 Back to MathCounts
Here are some things to remember from MathCounts geometry! I mention them briey
because I assume you are familiar with them.

Similar Triangles: Im sure you know what these are. Similar triangles provide a
link between ratios and angles by the AA, SAS and SSS criteria for similarity. Know
them when you see them.

Pythagorean Theorem: Useful on the AIME. Please tell me you know what this is.
It does see occasional usage on olympiads.

Law of Cosines: Generalizes the Pythagorean Theorem. Quite useful on the AIME.

Tangents: The two tangents from a point to a circle are equal in length, and form
right angles with the center. Know this.

Angle Bisector Theorem: If the angle bisector of BAC hits BC at D, then

DB AB
DC = AC . Like similar triangles, this gives you a way of converting equal angles into
a ratio of sides.

Power of a Point: Well go over this in more detail with cyclic quadrilaterals, but
you should know the statement of this! Let be a circle and P be a point. Suppose
through P intersects at A and B; then the power of P with respect to is dened
as P A P B, and does not depend on the line .
Usually, the power is dened as positive when P is outside the circle and negative when
it is inside.

These are all very useful for side-chasing.

1.3.2 Ptolemys Theorem

When dealing with cyclic quadrilaterals, Ptolemys Theorem often provides a base for com-
puting side lengths.

Theorem 3 (Ptolemys Theorem). Let ABCD be a cyclic quadrilateral. Then AB CD +

AD BC = AC BD.

Sketch of Proof. Ptolemy can actually be deduced by Stewarts Theorem (and vice-versa).
Let P be the intersection of the diagonals and apply Stewart on triangle ABC with cevian
BP , in the form
AP P C AB 2 P C BC 2 P A
AC + PB = +
PB PB PB
Then use similar triangles.

Exercise. Complete the proof above!

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.3.3 Problems
1. (Mu-Alpha-Theta 1991) Given triangle ABC, compute tan C given

a 3 + b3 + c 3
= c2 .
a+b+c

2. Show that the medians of a triangle partition it into six triangles of equal area.

3. The side lengths of a triangle are 30, 40 and 50. What is the length of the shortest
altitude?

4. (Ray Li) Let ABC be a triangle. The angle bisector of A meets BC at D and the
circumcircle of ABC at E. If AB = 36, BC = 40, CA = 44, compute DE 2 .

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.4 Angle Chasing

Angles are very useful in geometry. This section is dedicated to exploring how to use angles
properly.

1.4.1 Cyclic Quadrilaterals

Cyclic quadrilaterals come up EVERYWHERE. Its just plain hard to do geometry if you
dont understand the basics of how circles and angles interact.

Denition. A quadrilateral is said to by cyclic if it can be inscribed in a circle.

Here are the main results:

Theorem 4. Let ABCD be a quadrilateral. ABCD is cyclic if and only if

(i) DAC = DBC

(ii) ABC + ADC = 180 .

C
D

Figure 1.2: Bob the cyclic quadrilateral. Mark ALL the angles.

You should recognize the rst two statements as trivial consequences of the Inscribed
Angle Theorem3 . However, it is extremely important to recognize that the converse of these
statements are all true! Furthermore, we have from a few sections ago:

Theorem 5 (Power of a Point). A, B, C, and D lie on a circle in some order. Let P be

the intersection of lines AC and BD. Then P A P C = P B P D. This quantity is called the
power of P with respect to the circle, and is negative when P is inside the circle and positive
otherwise.

Exercise. (This is very useful.) Suppose you are instead given P = AC BD and P AP C =
P B P D. When is it true that ABCD is cyclic?

Power of a Point is useful because it gives both a way to nd a new cyclic quadrilateral,
as well as use an old one. Obviously it is quite useful for things involving lengths.
When are cyclic quadrilaterals useful? Some instances when they are likely to show up:

Multiple points on a circle. Three points determine a circle; if you have more than
this, then you have a bunch of equal angles for free.

3
If you dont know what this is, nd out very soon.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

Right angles. Pairs of right angles form cyclic quadrilaterals. (Why?) Not only that,
but when you have right angles in a circle, this means you get diameters.

Angles. Particularly equal ones.

The problem is olympiad geometry. Maybe not so much the AIME, but if youre
doing a decently hard olympiad problem, theres very often a cyclic quadrilateral some-
where.

1.4.2 Other Ways to Deal with Angles

Here are two other useful facts.

Fact. The sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 .

Fact. P lies on the opposite side of AB as C. P A is a tangent to the circumcircle of ABC

if and only if P AB = ACB.

P A

B
C

Figure 1.3: Tangent

1.4.3 Problems
The usual warning about motivation here: you should not immediately go bananas marking
angles every time you see a cyclic quadrilateral. Keep your eye on the prize.
Despite how much Ive said this is a huge amount of beginning geometry, you will notice
there are not that many problems here. In fact, what actually happened was that the
problems section here got so large that I split most of it o into later sections, leaving only
a few of the easier problems here.

1. Prove that cyclic trapezoids are isosceles, and vice-versa.

2. Let ABC be a triangle with altitudes AD, BE, CF meeting at the orthocenter H.
(a) Among the seven points A, B, C, D, E, F and H, one can nd six cyclic quadri-
laterals. What are they?
(b) Show that the altitudes of ABC are the angle bisectors of DEF .
(c) (Almost nine-point circle) Point H is reected over sides BC, CA and AB to points
A1 , B1 and C1 in that order. Also, suppose HBCA2 , HCAB2 and HABC2 are
parallelograms. Prove that ABCA1 B1 C1 A2 B2 C2 is a cyclic nonagon (probably
self-intersecting).
(d) (Nine-point circle) Prove that the circumcircle of DEF passes through the mid-
points of the sides of ABC, as well as the midpoints of AH, BH and CH.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

3. (Russia 1996) Points E and F are on side BC of convex quadrilateral ABCD (with E
closer than F to B). It is known that BAE = CDF and EAF = F DE. Prove
that F AC = EDB.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.5 Fact 5
One particularly common conguration that you should know involves excircles. The A-
excircle is the circle tangent to side BC and the extensions of sides AB and AC through B
and C, respectively, and its center is the A-excenter. The B and C excircles and excenters
are dened similarly.

1. Let ABC be a triangle with incenter I, and let IA , IB , and IC be the A, B and
C-excenters.
(a) Show that IB IC bisects the exterior angle of A.
(b) Show that I is the orthocenter of triangle IA IB IC .

2. (Fact 5) Let ABC be a triangle. The incircle of ABC touches BC at a point D. The
A-excircle of ABC touches AB, AC, and BC at points XB , XC and E, and has center
J. Finally, the angle bisector of A hits the circumcenter of ABC at L.

B D E C
XC

XB

Figure 1.4: Fact 5

(a) Prove that A, I, L and J are collinear.

(b) Compute AXB and AXC .
(c) Show that BD = EC = s b and BE = DC = s c.
(d) Show that L is the center of a circle passing through I, J, B and C.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.6 TSTST 2012, Problem 7

To nish the geometry chapter, heres a documentation of my thought process against a
fairly tough geometry problem as I solve it. This was not the solution I found during the
test.
Problem (TSTST 2012). Triangle ABC is inscribed in circle . The interior angle bisector
of angle A intersects side BC and at D and L (other than A), respectively. Let M be the
midpoint of side BC. The circumcircle of triangle ADM intersects sides AB and AC again
at Q and P (other than A), respectively. Let N be the midpoint of segment P Q, and let H
be the foot of the perpendicular from L to line N D. Prove that line M L is tangent to the
circumcircle of triangle HM N .

Q
N

D M C
B

H
L

Figure 1.5: Problem 7

Solution, with commentary. Well, rst things rst; that stupid tangent condition should be
rewritten. Rewrite it as DN M = HM L.
Maybe right now you remember that BL = LC from an earlier problem; if not, the
diagram should be a big hint. Anyways, its not too hard to see that DM L = 90 . On
the other hand, we are told DHL = 90 . Bam, cyclic quad! (Told you these things show
up everywhere.) So DM LH is cyclic, and now HDL = HM L. So we just want to prove
DN M = HDL.
Wait a minute, thats just saying M N AD. And we know this has to be true for the
problem to be true. But this means that we can erase a whole bunch of things: namely H,
L, and a bunch of the lines related to them, leaving us which a much simpler problem.
OK, so how do we prove M N AD? Hmm. . .

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

Whats the hardest part of this problem? Its that darn circle passing through D and M ,
cutting the sides at P and Q, which at the moment we really know nothing about. What
can we do?
. . . And now heres the insight (aka the hard part of the problem). D and M are pretty
good points in terms of lengths, so lets apply Power of a Point to try and get a grip on P
and Q. We have

BQ BA = BD BM
CP CA = CD CM

But BM = CM , and BD BA
CD = CA . So this actually implies that BQ = CP ! Some of you
with better diagrams might have noticed this right o the bat, which is just as well.
OK, so M N is nowthe average of these two equal lengths. Hmm. . . in vector language,
MN = 12 BQ + CP . But if BQ = CP , then BQ + CP is parallel to the angle bisector,
namely AD, so M N must be as well. And suddenly the problem is solved!

Now, Ive made the problem sound very easy. Its really not. I ended up throwing barycen-
tric coordinates at this during the test after struggling with it, without success, for 90 min-
utes. But hopefully now you see that these solutions do come from somewhere, and what
you should be thinking about while youre doing other problems.
By the way, it is true that H lies on the . In fact, if you let X be the second intersection
of the two circles, it turns out that X lies on lines M L and N H. (Try and prove this!) This
leads to a solution using an idea called spiral similarity, which some veterans would recognize
instantly. (Remember the problem from the Angle Chasing section? Yes, same thing. It
also appears in Yufei Zhaos Cyclic Quadrilaterals the Big Picture which I mentioned
much earlier.)
Heres a concise solution to the problem, and what should be submitted at an exam.
Remember that solutions should be written forwards.

Solution. First, we claim that M N AD. Notice that, by Power of a Point and the Angle
Bisector Theorem, we have
BD BM CD CM
BQ = = = CP
BA CA

so BQ = CP . Now MN = 12 BQ + CP , and since BQ = CP it follows that M N is
parallel to the angle bisector of BAC, namely AD.
Note that BL = LC DM L = 90 . Since DHL = 90 , it follows that DM LH is
cyclic. Now HM N = HDL = HM L, and the conclusion follows.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.7 The Champions

Now that you have most of the tools, most problems are fair game. Good luck!

1. Let 1 and 2 be circles which intersect at points P and Q. AC is a chord of 1 and

BD is a chord of 2 . Suppose AC and BD intersect on P Q. Prove that ABCD is
cyclic.

2. (JMO 2011) Points A, B, C, D, E lie on a circle and point P lies outside the circle.
The given points are such that (i) lines P B and P D are tangent to , (ii) P, A, C are
collinear, and (iii) DE AC. Prove that BE bisects AC.

3. (Mandelbrot 2012) Let ABC be a triangle inscribed in circle with BC = 17. The
angle bisector of BAC intersects again at P . Given that sin ABP = 35 , and that
the radius of is 20, compute the area of quadrilateral ABP C.

4. (USAMO 2010) Let AXY ZB be a convex pentagon inscribed in a semicircle of diameter

AB. Denote by P , Q, R, S the feet of the perpendiculars from Y onto lines AX, BX,
AZ, BZ, respectively. Prove that the acute angle formed by lines P Q and RS is half
the size of XOZ, where O is the midpoint of segment AB.

5. (IMO 2012) Given triangle ABC the point J is the centre of the excircle opposite the
vertex A. This excircle is tangent to the side BC at M , and to the lines AB and AC
at K and L, respectively. The lines LM and BJ meet at F , and the lines KM and
CJ meet at G. Let S be the point of intersection of the lines AF and BC, and let T
be the point of intersection of the lines AG and BC. Prove that M is the midpoint of
ST.

6. (Brazil 2006) Let ABC be a triangle. The internal bisector of B meets AC in P . Let
I be the incenter of ABC. Prove that if AP + AB = CB, then AP I is isosceles.

7. (Euler Line) In ABC, M is the midpoint of BC and AD is an altitude. Let H, G

and O be the othrocenter, centroid, and circumcenter.
(i) Prove that AM/GM = 3. (The AM-GM inequality will not help here.)
(ii) Prove that AG/GM = 2.
(iii) Let X and Y be the midpoints of AB and AC. By using similar triangles M XY
and ABC, show that AH = 2OM .
OG
(iv) Prove that O, G, and H are collinear, and compute HG .
(v) Prove that the center of the nine-point circle N is the midpoint of OH.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.8 Quiz Problems

1. In quadrilateral ABCD, AB = 7, BC = 15, CD = 20, DA = 24, and BD = 25. Find
CA.

2. In the gure, ABC is divided into six smaller triangles, four of whose areas are
shown. Compute the area of ABC.

84

35
40 30
A B

3. Let ABCDE be a convex pentagon such that

BAC = CAD = DAE and ABC = ACD = ADE.

Diagonals BD and CE meet at P . Prove that AP bisects CD.

4. Let ABCD be a cyclic quadrilateral. Denote by X and Y the orthocenters of ABD

and ACD. Prove that BC = XY .

1. Let ABC be an acute triangle with circumcenter O, orthocenter H, and incenter

1
I. Suppose that AH, BI, and CO concur and cos A cos B cos C = 64 . Compute
1000 cos B.

2. In triangle ABC, D is on AC and E is on AB such that:

(i) Triangle ADE and quadrilateral BCDE have equal area and perimeter.
(ii) Quadrilateral BCDE is cyclic.
(iii) AD = 20 and CD = 12.

The length of the altitude from A to BC can be expressed as k, for some positive
integer k. Find k.

3. Let ABC be a triangle with incenter I. A point P in the interior of the triangle satises

P BA + P CA = P BC + P CB.

Show that AP AI, and that equality holds if and only if P = I.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.8.1 Quiz 1 Solutions

1. In quadrilateral ABCD, AB = 7, BC = 15, CD = 20, DA = 24, and BD = 25. Find
CA.

Solution. Notice that ABCD is cyclic since A = C = 90 . Then by Ptolemys

Theorem, AC = 720+1524
25 = 020 .

2. (AIME 1985) In the gure, ABC is divided into six smaller triangles, four of whose
areas are shown. Compute the area of ABC.

84

35
40 30
A B

Solution. We set the left blank area to y, and set the right blank area to x. Using the
fact that triangles with similar altitudes, we see that if we have AB as the base, we
get 124+y 30
65+x = 40 y =
4x112
3 .
y 70+y
Using AC as the base, we get 84 = 119+x .
Solving, we obtain x = 70, y = 56. Hence, the total area is 56 + 70 + 35 + 30 + 40 + 84 =
315 .

3. (ISL 2006 G3, by Zuming Feng) Let ABCDE be a convex pentagon such that

BAC = CAD = DAE and ABC = ACD = ADE.

Diagonals BD and CE meet at P . Prove that AP bisects CD.

Solution. Observe that ABC, ACD, and ADE are all similar. From this it is not hard
to see that quadrilaterals ABCD and ACDE are similar. Denoting K = BD AC
AK AL
and L = CE AD, we nd that KC = LC . The conclusion now follows via Cevas
Theorem.

4. (Evan Chen) Let ABCD be a cyclic quadrilateral. Denote by X and Y the orthocenters
of ABD and ACD. Prove that BC = XY .

Solution. (Aaron Lin) Reect X and Y over side AD to points X and Y , which lie
on the circumcircle of ABCD. Now notice that BCY X is a cyclic trapezoid; hence
it is isosceles, so we have BC = X Y . Upon noticing XY = X Y we are done.

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Evan Chen, IHS Math Training Chapter 1. Geometry

1.8.2 Quiz 2 Solutions

1. Let ABC be an acute triangle with circumcenter O, orthocenter H, and incenter
1
I. Suppose that AH, BI, and CO concur and cos A cos B cos C = 64 . Compute
1000 cos B.

Solution. Apply Trig Ceva to obtain

sin (90 C) sin(B/2) sin (90 A)
=1
sin (90 B) sin(B/2) sin (90 B)
1
This implies that cos2 B = cos A cos C, so cos3 B = cos A cos B cos C = 64 1000 cos B =
250 .

2. (WOOT Mock AIME 2011, by David Stoner) In triangle ABC, D is on AC and E is

on AB such that:
(i) Triangle ADE and quadrilateral BCDE have equal area and perimeter.
(ii) Quadrilateral BCDE is cyclic.
(iii) AD = 20 and CD = 12.

The length of the altitude from A to BC can be expressed as k, for some positive
integer k. Find k.

Solution. Since EBC = ADE we see that triangles ADE and ABC are similar.
Furthermore, the ratio of their areas
is 1 : 2, so theratio of their side lengths
is 1 : 2.
It follows that AE = 12 AC = 16 2 and AB = 20 2, so that EB = 4 2.

The condition on the perimeter now gives BC = AE + AD BE DC = 8 + 12 2.
From here we can compute the height from A to BC because we know all the side
lengths of ABC. One approach is to compute [ABC] using Herons Formula and
divide by AB. Alternatively, let AL be the altitude, and write h = AL, x = BL and
y = CL. Then we obtain the system:
x2 + h2 = 800
y 2 + h2 = 1024

x + y = 8 + 12 2
224

Subtracting the rst two equations gives y 2 x2 = 224 y x = 8+12 2
= 12 2 8,

and from here we obtian x = 8, y = 12 2, so h2 = 736 .

3. (IMO 2006, by Hojoo Lee from South Korea) Let ABC be a triangle with incenter I.
A point P in the interior of the triangle satises
P BA + P CA = P BC + P CB.
Show that AP AI, and that equality holds if and only if P = I.

Solution. It is immediate that P BC + P CB = 1

2 (B + C), so BP C = 90 + A/2.
Similarly, BIC = 90 + A/2, so BIP C is cyclic.
Let AI meet the circumcircle of ABC at L. By Fact 5, P lies on a circle centered at
L passing through B, I and C. But A, I and L are collinear, implying the conclusion.

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