Let be an isosceles trapezoid with longer base such that the bisector of the angle at passes through . Suppose that the bisector of the angle at intersects the side at the point . Prove that if and only if the bisector of passes through .
Solution
Solution:
Let (since the trapezoid is isosceles, the two angles are equal); the condition is equivalent to having . In turn, since ( is the bisector of the angle at ), this is equivalent to (sum of the interior angles in triangle ), that is, to .
Let us set ; since the angles and are alternate interior angles with respect to the parallels cut by the transversal , we also have ; hence, since the trapezoid is isosceles, we in fact also have , and moreover (interior angles of triangle ), that is .
Consequently, , while .
Now, is the bisector of if and only if , if and only if , that is , which in turn is equivalent to the condition as argued previously.
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