Circles and with centers at and respectively, intersect at two points and . Points and are varying points on and , respectively, such that , and are collinear and is always between and . Let lines and intersect at , let be the incenter of , and let be the circumcenter of . Show that as and vary, traces the arc of a circle whose center is concyclic with , and .
Problem 1754
Official solution
1. Define the Problem and Setup:
- Let circles and have centers and respectively, and intersect at points and .
- Points and are on and respectively, such that , , and are collinear with between and .
- Let lines and intersect at .
- Let be the incenter of and be the circumcenter of .
2. **Claim 1: **
- Let and be the intersections of the external angle bisector of with and respectively, distinct from .
- Let .
- Since and are diameters, and , making collinear.
- Using directed angles, , thus .
- Since , .
- Therefore, , implying .
3. **Claim 2: Points are cyclic**
- Since , is cyclic.
- Using the midpoints and of and respectively, and the fact that , we have .
- Thus, , so lies on .
- Since , lies on .
- Similarly, , so lies on .
4. **Claim 3: Points are cyclic**
- Since , .
- Thus, is the center of the spiral similarity sending to , implying .
- Therefore, , making cyclic.
5. **Claim 4: **
- By the Incenter-Excenter Lemma, is the midpoint of arc of .
- Let . It suffices to show is also the midpoint of in .
- Since is the Miquel point of the complete quadrilateral , is the center of the spiral similarity sending to .
- Thus, , so lies on .
- Since , , making the midpoint of .
6. **Claim 5: Points are cyclic**
- Since are cyclic by , .
- Thus, is cyclic with .
Since lies on , which is fixed, as and vary, will trace an arc of the circle , and its center is indeed concyclic with .