Points , , and lie on a line in this order. Point is chosen such that triangles and are similar (in this specific order of vertices), moreover and . Find .
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Answer: .
Denote (Fig. 32). The similarity of and yields and ; the second of which gives . Therefore . Hence the similarity of and yields ; thus , which gives or .
The isosceles triangle gives . On the other hand,
The equation yields . So the triangle is equilateral, which yields .
Therefore .

Solution 2
The similarity of and yields and . So the triangles and are also similar to . Therefore . But this yields , meaning that the triangle is equilateral.
The similarity of and yields . The similarity of and yields . Combining these with , we see that

Fig. 32
So , meaning that the scale factor between triangles and is . Thus .
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