A circle is drawn through points and of a triangle such that the angle in the segment external to the triangle is the complement of . Similarly a second circle is drawn through and with the angle in the segment external to the triangle equal to the complement of .
Prove that the circles touch each other. Prove also that is tangent to both circles when .
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Let , and let denote the circle through and and the circle through and . The assumptions about the two circles mean that for any point on which is on the arc that is outside we have . Similarly, for on on the correct arc we have .

Let be a point inside triangle on the tangent to at . By the Alternate Segment Theorem, we have . Hence,
The converse of the Alternate Segment Theorem implies now that is tangent to at , i.e. and touch each other at . When , we have and so as well as . The converse of the Alternate Segment Theorem implies then that is tangent to both circles.
Solution 2
We use notation from Solution 1 and let and be the centres of and , respectively. The assumptions about the angle in the segment external to the triangle imply that the central angle equals and that . These equations imply and . Because we see now that and are collinear, hence the two circles touch each other at .
For the right angled case, see the end of Solution 1.