Let be a point in the plane of triangle such that the segments , , and are the sides of an obtuse triangle. Assume that in this triangle the obtuse angle opposes the side congruent to . Prove that is acute.
Solutions — 6
Solution 1
By the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality,
Applying the (Generalized) Ptolemy's Inequality to quadrilateral yields
Because is the longest side of an obtuse triangle with side lengths , , , we have and hence
Combining these three inequalities yields , implying that angle is acute.
Solution 2
Let and be the feet of the perpendiculars from and to line , respectively. Then . Furthermore, the given conditions imply that , which can be written as . Hence,
Let be the ray minus the point . Note that, since , lies on ray . If did not lie on , then would be less than or equal to , a contradiction. Thus, lies on , and angle is acute.
Solution 3

Set up a coordinate system on the plane with , , , and . Without loss of generality, we may assume that and that . Proving that angle is acute is equivalent to proving that . Since ,
Hence,
Since , we have . It follows that , as desired.
Solution 4
We first prove the following Lemma.
Lemma. For any four points , , , and in the plane,
Proof. Pick an arbitrary origin and let , , , denote the vectors from to , , , , respectively. Then
which is always nonnegative. Equality holds if and only if , which is true if and only if is a (possibly degenerate) parallelogram.
Applying the Lemma to points , , , and gives
Therefore, angle is acute.
Solution 5
In this solution, takes on values between and . Note that , since . Applying the Law of Sines to triangle yields
It follows that
Since , we have similarly
Thus,
If , then .
Hence,
and angle is acute.
Solution 6

Note that . Regard as fixed and , and as free to rotate on circles of radii , and about , respectively. As vary, will be maximized when and are on opposite sides of line and and are right angles, i.e., lines and are tangent to the circles passing through and .
Without loss of generality, we assume that . In this case, is cyclic and , and similarly . Hence, on the circumcircle of , arcs and are bigger than arcs and , respectively. Thus, . Since these two angles are supplementary, angle is acute.