Let be a right triangle. It is known that there are points on side and on side such that and . Find and .
Solution
Denote , , . The assumptions imply , . First we prove that , without using the condition that is a right triangle.
Let be the midpoint of . By triangle is right at , so is the median to its hypotenuse . Hence
On the other hand , so and are equidistant from the endpoints of . Hence is the perpendicular bisector of . Because triangle is isosceles with base , it follows that is the bisector of .
By the bisector property . Replacing , , , yields
In particular is the middle side of , and since is the shortest one, the hypotenuse of the triangle is . Thus by Pythagoras theorem. Combined with this yields , which reduces to . Hence , with
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