Luigi drew in his notebook an isosceles triangle ABC in which the sides emanating from A are equal and, after drawing the internal bisector of the angle ABC which meets the side AC at P, he noticed that the circle through B,P,C also passed through the midpoint of AB. He then asked himself what the value of the angle BAC was. What is the correct answer?
Pick one
Solution
Solution:
The answer is (C). Let M be the midpoint of AB. The angles PBM and PCM are congruent because they subtend the same arc. Since the triangle is isosceles, the angles ABC and ACB are equal and therefore, by subtracting equal angles, MCB=PBC and M is also the foot of the bisector of the angle ACB, just as P is also the midpoint of the side AC, since the two triangles MBC and BCP are congruent. Since CM is both a median and a bisector, the triangle ABC is isosceles at C, that is, the sides BC and AC are equal. Then ABC is equilateral and the angle sought has measure equal to 60∘.
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