A FORGOTTEN COAXALITY LEMMA

STANISOR STEFAN DAN

Abstract. There are a lot of problems involving coaxality at olympiads. Some-

times, problems look pretty nasty and ask to prove that three circles are coaxal.
In the following article, we will show how this kind of problems can be tackled
using a very nice lemma.

We will start by presenting the lemma that will help us solving some difficult
coaxality problems. Denote by (P, C) the power of point P with respect to circle
C. Then,

Lemma: Let circles C1 and C2 intersect at points A and B. Now, let C3 be a

circle which passes through A and B. Then, C3 is the locus of points P such that
(P, C1 )
= k, where k is a constant.
(P, C2 )

1
2 STANISOR STEFAN DAN

Proof: We will prove the lemma as follows. Take two points S and T such that
(S, C1 ) (T, C1 )
= = k. Firstly, we will prove that A, B, S, T lie on a circle. Let
(S, C2 ) (T, C2 )
SA intersect circles C1 and C2 at points S1 and S2 , respectively. Define similarly
points T1 and T2 for the line T B. Now, we know that

SS2 SA T T2 T B SS2 T T2
= = (1)
SA SS1 T B T T1 SS1 T T1

and also it is easy to see that S2 T2 is parallel to the line S1 T1 , since T1 S1 A =

ABT2 = 180S1 S2 T2 . Combining this with (1), we see that ST is also parallel to
the lines S2 T2 and S1 T1 and this means that the quadrilater ABST is cyclic. Now,
(S, C1 )
for the second part, we suppose that ABST is cyclic and prove that =
(S, C2 )
(T, C1 )
. But this is easy since we know that ST k S1 T1 k S2 T2 . Thus,
(T, C2 )

SS2 T T2 SS2 SA T T2 T B
= =
SS1 T T1 SA SS1 T B T T1

which is what we wanted to prove. In this way, our lemma is proven and we are
ready to proceed.

Moreover, the lemma is true for nonintersecting circles and the proof goes along
the same lines. The only difference is that we will need to use 3D geometry in order
to be able to visualize the radical axes.

Now, we will start with a very beautiful problem listed as G8 on the IMO Shortlist
2012 and proposed by the great mathematician, Cosmin Pohoata. The problem goes
as follows:

Let ABC be a triangle with circumcircle and ` a line without common points
with . Denote by P the foot of the perpendicular from the center of to `. The
side-lines BC, CA, AB intersect ` at the points X, Y, Z different from P . Prove that
the circumcircles of the triangles AXP , BY P and CZP have a common point dif-
ferent from P or are mutually tangent at P .
 A FORGOTTEN COAXALITY LEMMA 3

Proof: As in our lemma, let C1 be the circumcircle of triangle BY P and C2 be

the circumcircle of triangle CZP . Now, let {E} = C1 AB and {F } = C2 AC.
Using our lemma, we see that it is enough to prove that
(X, C1 ) (A, C1 ) AE CY
= = .
(X, C2 ) (A, C2 ) AF BZ
Now, all we have to do is to figure out a way of doing that. We denote by R the
radius of the circumcircle of triangle ABC. Then,
AZZBAY Y C = OY 2 OZ 2 = Y P 2 ZP 2 = Y P Y ZP ZY Z = Y F Y CZEZB
and so, we got that
AE CY
ZB(AZ + ZE) = CY (AY + Y F ) ZB AE = CY AF =
AF ZB
which is what we were looking for.

We will continue with a problem which was solved by no more than 2 students
in the actual TST.

(Romanian TST 2010) Let ` be a line, and let and 0 be two circles. The line `
meets at points A and B, and 0 at points A0 and B 0 . The tangents to at A
4 STANISOR STEFAN DAN

and B meet at point C, and the tangents to 0 at A0 and B 0 meet at point C 0 . The
lines ` and CC 0 meet at point P . Let be a variable line through P and let X
be one of the points where meets , and X 0 be one of the points where meets
0 . Prove that the point of intersection of the lines CX and C 0 X 0 lies on a fixed circle.

Proof: Let Q CX C 0 X 0 . CX cuts ` at M and again at E. C 0 X 0 cuts ` at

N and 0 again at F. Since ` is polar of C and C 0 WRT and 0 , then the pencils
P (C, M, E, X) and P (C 0 , N, F, X 0 ) are harmonic = P, E, F are collinear. Hence,
by Menelaus theorem for 4QCC 0 cut by XX 0 and EF, we get that
QX P C 0 CX QE P C 0 CE
= , =
QX 0 P C C 0 X 0 QF P C C 0F
and so,
2 2
P C0 P C 0 CA
 
QX QE CX CE
= 0 0 = = const.
QX 0 QF PC C X C 0F P C C 0 A0
Thus, the ratio of the powers of Q with respect to and 0 is constant and using
our lemma we get that the locus of Q is a circle coaxal with and 0 . This circle
then passes through the intersections CA C 0 A0 , CB C 0 B 0 , CA C 0 B 0 and
CB C 0 A0 .
 A FORGOTTEN COAXALITY LEMMA 5

We conclude with the final example and what could be more spectacular than a
Russian problem.

(Russia) Let 4ABC be a triangle with (I, r) its incircle. The common tangents of
circles and the circumcircle of 4BIC intersect at point S. Also, these two circles
intersect at points U and V . Prove that the circumcircle of 4SU V is tangent to
the circumcircle of 4ABC.

Proof: Consider to be the circle with AI as its diameter and let it cut the
circumcircle of 4ABC at a point P , different from A. Let M be the circumcenter
of 4BIC. We will denote by CXY Z the circumcircle of 4XY Z and by RXY Z , the
radius of the circumcircle of 4XY Z. Now, we will prove that P SU V is cyclic. For
this, using our lemma, it is enough to prove that
(P, ) (S, )
=
(P, CBIC ) (S, CBIC )
or equivalently
P I 2 r2 r2 PI r r
2 2
= 2
= = ()
P M RBIC RBIC PM RBIC MI
6 STANISOR STEFAN DAN

since it is well known that M I = M B = M C, using the sinus theorem, we get that
AI sin P AI AI
= .
2RABC sin P AM 2RABC
Thus, letting R = RABC , () is quivalent to
AI r
= AI IM = 2Rr R2 OI 2 = 2Rr
2R MI
which is true by Eulers formula.
Now, we will continue with the second part of the proof.

Let D, E, F be the contact points of with the the sides BC, AC, AB respectively,
{X} = U V BC and {T } = EF BC. Now, we first notice that X is the radical
center of the circles CABC , , CBIC and CSU V . Thus, we get that XD2 = XB XC
and since (T, D; B, C) forms a harmonic division, we deduce that X is the midpoint
of the segment T D. Since P AEF is cyclic, we know that P F A = P EA
P F B = P EC. Moreover, P BF = P CE since P ACB is cyclic. Therefore,
 A FORGOTTEN COAXALITY LEMMA 7

we see that 4P BF is similar to 4P CE, so

PB PC PB DB
= =
BF CE PC DC
which implies that P DM are collinear and since P (T, D; B, C) forms a harmonic
pencil, we get that T P D = 90. Since X is the midpoint of T D, we get that
XP = XD. But, XP 2 = XD2 = XB XC = XV XU so we got that XP is the
common tangent at point P of circles CABC and CSP U V , which means that these
two circles are tangent Q.E.D.