Let ABC be an acute triangle and let D be the foot of the bisector from A. Let ω be the circle through A tangent to BC at D, and let E,F be the intersections of ω with AB,AC respectively. The tangents to ω at E and F meet at P. Knowing that PE=3 and that the radius of ω is 4, what is the length of the segment PD?
Pick one
Solution
Solution:
The answer is (B). Let O be the center of ω; by hypothesis we have EAD=FAD, so D is the midpoint of arc EF and in particular OD passes through the midpoint of segment EF. It follows that OD is the perpendicular bisector of EF, since it is perpendicular to it and passes through its midpoint. Now, since PE and PF are tangents, we have PE=PF and hence P also belongs to the perpendicular bisector of EF. This implies that P,D,O are collinear. The triangle PEO is right-angled at E by construction, so we have PO2=(PD+DO)2=(PD+4)2=EO2+PE2=42+32, from which we obtain PD=1.
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