In triangle , the incenter is and the incircle touches the sides at , respectively. For a line passing through , the feet of the perpendiculars dropped from onto are respectively. Show that the lines are concurrent.
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
In the solution, we use directed lengths. Let intersect , , at , , respectively and let , and ; hence , and where is the radius of the incircle. Consequently we have
Now let the lines , , intersect , , at , , respectively; hence the lines , , , intersect at
, , , respectively and intersect at , , , respectively, thus we have an equality of cross-ratios
Multiplying the last equality with the analogous equalities
and rearranging, one finds
where we used Menelaus' theorem in triangle with line and we used (1). Therefore, we conclude by Ceva's theorem in triangle that the lines , , are concurrent. Done.
Solution 2
Let , , denote the reflections of , , in the line . Now , , are on the circle with diameter , hence . On the other hand, is the central angle of an arc of the incircle which measures half of the arc , hence . As a result, which implies that . Analogously, , , , and . Now let denote the intersection of and ; by symmetry, we have . As a result, the points
are collinear, which implies that the triangles and are perspective, hence the lines , , are concurrent (Desargues' theorem).