USA TSTST #0k5g — USA TSTST · USAMO Guide - Olympiad Mathematics Learning Platform

USA TSTST #0k5g

USA TSTSTHard

Community difficultyNo ratings yetBe the first to rate this problem.

Understand the scale

Scale 0.5: Easiest math competition problems, often solvable even for early middle school students without experience. 1: Problems strictly for beginners, often at a moderate middle school level. 1.5: Problems for stronger beginner students, on the level of the middling problems in most middle school contests. 2: For motivated beginners, harder questions from the previous categories. 2.5: More advanced beginner problems, hardest questions from previous categories. 3: Early intermediate problems that require more creative thinking. 3.5: Tougher early intermediate problems that consistently stretch into higher-level creative thinking or conceptual knowledge. 4: Intermediate-level problems. 4.5: Upper intermediate problems approaching the upper bound for non-invitational sprint math competitions. 5: More difficult AIME problems or simple proof-based Olympiad-style problems. 6: High-level AIME-styled questions or introductory Olympiad-level questions. 7: Tougher Olympiad-level questions, may require more technical knowledge. 8: High-level Olympiad-level questions. 9: Expert Olympiad-level questions. 9.5: The hardest problems appearing on Olympiads which the strongest students could reasonably solve. 10: Historically notorious problems, generally unsuitable for even very hard competitions because they are exceedingly tedious, long, and difficult.

Problem

Let $ABC$ be an acute triangle with circumcircle $\omega$ , and let $H$ be the foot of the altitude from $A$ to $\overline{BC}$ . Let $P$ and $Q$ be the points on $\omega$ with $PA = PH$ and $QA = QH$ . The tangent to $\omega$ at $P$ intersects lines $AC$ and $AB$ at $E_1$ and $F_1$ respectively; the tangent to $\omega$ at $Q$ intersects lines $AC$ and $AB$ at $E_2$ and $F_2$ respectively. Show that the circumcircles of $\triangle AE_1F_1$ and $\triangle AE_2F_2$ are congruent, and the line through their centers is parallel to the tangent to $\omega$ at $A$ .