Errata for E.G.M.O.

https://web.evanchen.cc/geombook.html

Evan Chen
Last updated June 11, 2020

This document contains an exhaustive list of all mistakes that I am aware of in my

textbook Euclidean Geometry in Mathematical Olympiads. Most are annoying but benign,
but a few (colored red) are substantial. You can send any more mistakes you find to the
author at the email on evanchen.cc.
I currently do not have any plans to create a second edition.

p. xi append a comma after “lectures at MOP”.

p. xiii change “explain how it comes from” to “explain where it comes from”.

p. xiv second bullet, the phrase “intersection the medians” is missing “of”.

p. 7 beneath Figure 1.3A, change “orthocenter of H” to “orthocenter of ABC”.

p. 10 change (LBC) to (IBC) in the paragraph starting “Because LB = LI = LC”.

p. 12 Theorem 1.22, the four points could also be collinear.

p. 12 Proposition 1.24, the isosceles triangle condition holds only when A, B, C are not
collinear.

p. 16 in problem 1.33, change “∠KC = 90◦ ” to “∠KCB = 90◦ ”.

p. 18 in problem 1.37, delete the word “again” in the definition of Q.

p. 18 in problem 1.38, it would be better to say “prove I1 I2 CB is cyclic” for clarity

since this is the order in which the vertices actually appear.

p. 18 in problem 1.39, I is the incenter of 4ABC.

p. 19 in problem 1.45, change “ray BI” to “the ∠B-bisector”.

p. 20 in problem 1.47, change “Let ABC be triangle” to “Let ABC be a triangle”.

p. 24 in Problem 2.2, change ]BCA = ]Y ZX to ]ABC = ]XY Z.

p. 28 change “immediately corollary” to “immediate corollary”.

p. 29 in Theorem 2.9, excise “of Intersecting Circles” from the theorem name.

p. 29 in proof of Theorem 2.9, change both > 0’s to < 0’s.

p. 30 bottom of page, “coaxal” should be “coaxial”.

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Evan Chen (Last updated June 11, 2020) Errata for E.G.M.O.

p. 31 in Lemma 2.13, the circles can also be tangent to one another at X (i.e. the
intersection is counted with multiplicity).

p. 32 near start of S2.6, “alluded the excenter” is missing “to”.

p. 33 in Lemma 2.20, swap the definitions of X and D. (The problem is technically

correct as stated, but it should be consistent with Figure 2.6A.)

p. 34 in solution to Example 2.21, in “we already know that that lines P Q, RS, and
XY concur at a point X”, the extraneous “that” and “X” should both be deleted.

p. 34 end of third paragraph after Example 2.21, change “ω1 an ω3 ” to “ω1 and ω3 ” and
change O1 O3 to O2 O3 .

p. 35 in the second set of aligned equations, change O2 X 2 to OO22 .

p. 37 Example 2.23, the source is Russia 2011, not 2010.

p. 39 Example 2.24, I is the incenter.

p. 40 Problem 2.29, change “six points” to “the six points”.

p. 40 Problem 2.30, the lines may also be pairwise parallel.

p. 46 change 11 11 11 = 1 to 1 · 1 · 1 = 1. (not technically wrong but quite misleading as

written.)

p. 48 Theorem 3.8, the lines may also be pairwise parallel.

p. 49 third to last line, lengths are multiplied by |k|.

p. 51 before Lemma, in “this circles is called the nine-point circle”, change “circles” to
“circle”.

p. 54 third paragraph, change “pick let” to “let”.

BM CM
p. 65 Problem 4.25, change MC to MB .

p. 67 in Lemma 4.33, change the second ω to Ω.

p. 76 Theorem 5.1 is missing a factor of 12 .

p. 68 just before Problem 4.38, change “show” to “shown”.

p. 71 Problem 4.53 is missing a trailing period.

p. 92 in Problem 5.23, when defining point G, line HE should intersect Γ1 , not Γ2 . Also,
“interest” should be “intersect” in the first line.

p. 97 Figure 6.2A, should be iz = −4 + 3i.

xa
p. 101 in the proof of Example 6.10, Lemma 6.3 should be Lemma 6.5. Also, bc should
bc
be xa (two changes).

p. 105 in Problem 6.20 change “Theorem 6.16” to “Theorem 6.15”.

p. 107 the proof of part (a) of the theorem has several issues, and is probably best to
just ignore. (The result is still true, and the proof of part (b) is correct.)

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Evan Chen (Last updated June 11, 2020) Errata for E.G.M.O.

p. 111 the last expression should actually be negated.

p. 112 in the second displayed line, change y 2 + x2 z/y to −y 2 + x2 z/y. In the fourth,
change the second y 2 /z 2 to z 2 /y 2 . In the ninth, change the second y 2 /z 2 to z 2 /y 2 .

p. 113 in the definition of M2 , change DHA to AHA .

p. 114 Solution 6.27, the a in the numerator of a0 should be ā. Follow through with the
rest of the solution.

p. 121 “his idea” to “this idea”.

p. 132 in the proof of Example 7.20, change C = (0, 0, 1) to D = (0, 0, 1).

p. 132 in the last display change ∠F AD to ∠KAD.

p. 133 Proposition 7.21, last display, change Sa to SA .

p. 136 very top, c = AE should be c = AC.

p. 138 eighth line from top, change AD : AC to AD : CD.

c2 +b2 −a2
p. 139 Solution 7.29, change the first display to 0 = c2 (t−1)+(a2 −b2 ) =⇒ t = c2
.

p. 140 in the second display, x + y should be x − y.

p. 142 very top, in a2 = SAB + SAC , change LHS to a2 SA . Also, the rest of the solution
is wrong, since a factor of two is dropped in the first display.

p. 145 Problem 7.44, change the angle condition to ]BC1 A1 = ]ACB = ]B1 C1 A.

p. 146 Problem 7.52, change ∠P CB to ∠P BC.

p. 144 second line of 7.42, change “tangency points” to “tangency point”.

p. 149 second paragraph of 8.1, change “three ordinary points” to “three noncollinear
ordinary points”.

p. 149 third paragraph of 8.1, change R to r.

p. 150 in Lemma 8.1, replace “tangents from A∗ ” with “tangency points from A∗ ”.

p. 151 at start of 8.2, in “simplest example is a just a line”, delete the extra “a”.

p. 151 immediately before figure, add a period after 8.2A.

p. 155 first bullet, delete the extra comma.

p. 159 second line of Example 8.15, change “tangent to ω at T ” to “tangent to Ω at K”.

Also, in the second paragraph of the proof, change the last Γ to Ω.

p. 159 in Lemma 8.16, change “fixes B and C” to “swaps B and C”.

p. 162 item 5 of list, change G1 to G∗1 . Also in the first paragraph of the solution.

p. 163 switch C ∗ and D∗ in the diagram.

p. 163 step 3, change BS ∗ to BC ∗ .

p. 164 switch S ∗ and R∗ in the diagram.

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Evan Chen (Last updated June 11, 2020) Errata for E.G.M.O.

p. 167 Problem 8.36, “circumcircle” is misspelled.

p. 171 Theorem 9.2, change “AB and XY ” to “segments AB and XY ”.

p. 173 in Problem 9.4, add k 6= 0.

p. 174 display in proof of Lemma 9.9, change (A, B; Q, P ) to (A, B; P, Q).

p. 174-175 in names of Lemmas 9.11-9.12, change “Induces” to “Induce”.

p. 175 “directed form *of* Ceva’s theorem”.

p. 176 in Problem 9.14, delete “and Lemma 9.18” (and “proofs” to “proof”).

p. 177 in Lemma 9.18, change “imply” to “implies”.

p. 178 in the proof of Theorem 9.19, change ∠CAY = ∠Y BC to ∠ACY = ∠Y CB.

p. 179 top of page, first sentence, ` is allowed to pass through O.

p. 181 in Lemma 9.27, change “pole” to “polar” (two instances).

p. 184 in Theorem 9.33, uniqueness is not true for (b) or (c). The last sentence is
also wrong as written. The correct sentence is: if the *circumcircle* of a cyclic
quadrilateral is preserved, then so is the cross ratio of the cyclic quadrilateral.

p. 184 in Example 9.34, swap the definitions of P , Q.

p. 187 in solution to 9.38, IA is the A-excenter (of course).

p. 189 in Solution 1, T should be AA ∩ CR.

p. 190 immediately before problems, P is the point at infinity along AC instead.

p. 193 Problem 9.58, delete the last “again” in definitions of P , Q.

p. 200 in third sentence of proof, add “of” after “radical center”.

p. 201 Lemma 10.9, change “though” to “through”.

p. 202 Proposition 10.14, delete extra “the” before M .

p. 202 part (a), the latter four circles should be (P AB), (P CD), (QAD), (QBC).

p. 206 problem 10.23, change “IMO 2005/2” to “IMO 2005/5”, and “lie of the sides” to
“lie on the sides”.

p. 209 problem 11.6, change “circumcenter” to “circumcircle”.

p. 210 problem 11.8, assume AB 6= AC.

p. 210 problem 11.10, change “P A, P B, P C” to “AP , BP , CP ”.

p. 216 in phrase “third column from the first column”, change “first” to “second”.

p. 218 in definition of vector addition, change to hx1 + x2 , y1 + y2 i.

p. 218 the misspelled “ofter” should be “often”

p. 222 hint 60, the inequality should be strict.

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Evan Chen (Last updated June 11, 2020) Errata for E.G.M.O.

p. 223 hint 77, replace “]CM N = ]BM N ” with “]CN M = ]BN M ”.

p. 223 hint 87, the inequality should be strict.

p. 223 hint 96 is wrong (see page 274 correction below).

p. 224 hint 112 is wrong (see page 274 correction below).

p. 225 hint 164 should be: let X = EF ∩BC and Y = AD∩EF , show (X, Y ; E, F ) = −1.

p. 226 hint 183, replace “ABCD” with “ABXY ”.

p. 226 hint 185, replace “∠W XY = 40◦ ” with “∠XZY = 40◦ ”.

p. 226 hint 193, replace “major arc BC” with “arc BAC”.
\

p. 226 hint 197 is wrong (see correction to Solution 6.45 below).

p. 226 hint 218, change AC and BD to AB and XY .

p. 227 hint 231, replace P, C, D with P, A, B; replace ABCD with AXBY .

p. 227 hint 232, L should be the midpoint of BC.

p. 227 hint 252, replace O with O∗ .

p. 227 hint 255, replace C with C ∗ .

p. 228 hint 257, change “as do C and F ” to “as do B and D”.

p. 229 hint 303, change first two instances of de to bc.

p. 229 hint 316, change “the circle is” to “the circle is centered at”.

p. 229 hint 321, delete “applies”.

p. 230 hint 355, change AC to AB.

p. 230 hint 340, replace P with A1 A2 ∩ C1 C2 .

p. 230 hint 362, X should instead be the second intersection of QI with the circumcircle.

p. 231 hint 373, replace “90◦ − A” with “90◦ − B”.

p. 231 hint 380, replace “sin 30◦ ” with “i sin 30◦ ”.

p. 231 hint 383, “trigonometric” is misspelled.

p. 231 hint 389, change L∗ to A∗ .

p. 231 hint 393, delete “M = (0 : 1 : 1)” and change the later “L” to “M ”.

p. 232 hint 425, change “reflection” to “reflections”.

p. 233 hint 449, change A to C.

p. 234 hint 500, the inequality should be strict.

p. 235 hint 544, change “equivalent” to “equivalent to”.

p. 235 hint 554, change the similarity to 4AOD ∼ 4CO1 D.

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Evan Chen (Last updated June 11, 2020) Errata for E.G.M.O.

p. 238 hint 649 is wrong (see correction to Solution 6.45 below).

p. 238 hint 653 is missing a period.

XB XA
p. 238 hint 666, change XA to XB .

p. 242 in Solution 1.46, should be 4O0 AB ∼

= 4ODC.
p. 243 in Solution 1.50, one also needs to check A, P , W are collinear. Thus, add the
remark ]N P A = ]N M A = ]N M C = ]N BC = ]N BW = ]N P W .

p. 246 in Solution 3.17, change X1 Y1 to X 0 Y 0 at the bottom (twice).

p. 249 Solution 3.29, add a remark that (AM N ) is tangent to (ABC).

p. 250 in Solution 4.50, second-to-last sentence, change “circumcircle” to “circumcenter”.

p. 250 in Solution 4.52, second display, change ]BDE = ]BED + ]BDE = . . . to

]BDE = ]BED + ]DBE = . . . .

p. 252 in Solution 4.52, last display, change ]BED + ]BDE to ]BED + ]DBE.
√ √
p. 252 in Solution
√ √ change −BI · CI · 2 to +BI · CI · 2. Thus, in last display
5.21,
change 2 to − 2.

p. 258 in Solution 6.36, the comma should be deleted in “By, Lemma 6.11”.

p. 259 in Solution 6.36, change ab − 1 to ab + 1 and follow through.

p. 262 there is a minus sign missing on fifth display. Carrying through, we actually get
x = h − bc(a+b+c)
b2 +bc+c2
bc
instead, id est we want x/h = 1 − b2 +bc+c2 to be real.

p. 265 in Solution 6.45, the solution proves |(a − b)(c − e)(d − f )| = |(d − e)(f − b)(a − c)|.
It should instead prove |(b − c)(a − e)(f − d)| = |(c − a)(e − f )(d − b)|, which is the
same up to permutation of point labels.

p. 268 at the end of Solution 7.42, the end of the display should be −2SA + 2bc.

p. 268 Solution 7.44, A0 should be (0 : a − uc/a : uc/a) in the second display.

p. 271 the solution 7.52, second-to-last display, the expressions actually equal −γ, not γ.

p. s 273-274 Solution 8.31, swap A and C everywhere.

p. 274 Solution 8.36, change “nine-point circle” to “the nine-point circle” in second
sentence.

p. 274 the solution 8.37 is wrong, it assumes AB passes through the center of ω2 .

p. 276 in Solution 9.47, change (A, X; B, C) to (A, X; C, B).

p. 277 in Solution 9.50, change CG ∩ BE to CG0 ∩ BE.

p. 281 in Solution 10.26, the last line, change ]HM N to ]HN M .

p. 282 in Solution 10.29, change (P, E; X, Y ) to (F, E; X, Y ) in last paragraph.

KL PL
p. 288 in Solution 11.9, last display, change PL to KL .

p. 296 in Solution 11.18, very very end, change 2t to (b2 + c2 )t.

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Evan Chen (Last updated June 11, 2020) Errata for E.G.M.O.

p. 297 in Solution 11.18, the first display should read −a2 v + b2 w + c2 v = (b2 +
c2 )t + (abc)2 − (ab)2 SB − a2 t = SA ((ab)2 + 2t). The next display should be
X 0 = a2 vw : SA (c2 SC + t)((ab)2 + 2t) : SA (b2 SB + t)((ac)2 + 2t) . Similarly for

Y 0 and Z 0 .

p. 297 in Solution 11.19, start of last paragraph, change DBC1 to DB1 C1 .

p. 303 in the description of IMO, change “problem” to “problems”.

p. 305 the link to reference [3] is broken. Thankfully, it’s on this website!

p. 305 reference [10], change “Geogebral” to “Geogebra”.