Let be the point of intersection of two diagonals of a square . Points lie on the line segments , respectively, and satisfy , , . Here we denote for a line segment its length also by . If the point of intersection of lines and , the point of intersection of lines and , and the point of intersection of lines and are collinear, what is the value of ?
Solution
Let be the length of a side of square , and , , , , . Also let , , be the point of intersection of lines and , lines and , lines and , respectively. Then, by Menelaus' theorem, we have
from which we obtain . Similarly, we get , . Also, we have . Since triangles and are similar, we get
Solving for from the last equation above, we get , and substituting the values , , , we get the length of the line segment to be equal to .
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