Let I be the incenter of triangle ABC. The incircle of ABC is tangent to side BC at D. Let P and Q be points on rays IB and IC respectively such that ∠IAP=∠CAD and ∠IAQ=∠BAD. Prove that AP=AQ.
Solution
Let's assume the incircle is tangent to AB at F, then we have that ∠FAD=∠IAQ and ∠AFD=2180∘−∠B=∠AIQ where the first equality is from the statement and the other are well-known identities. It follows that △AFD and △AIQ are similar to each other and hence △ADQ and △AFI are also similar to each other. In particular ∠ADQ=∠AFI=90∘ and moreover, by a similar argument, we get the analogous equality ∠ADP=90∘. Finally, we observe that ∠PAD=∠CAI=∠BAI=∠QAD and hence AD is the angle bisector and also the altitude that corresponds to vertex A in triangle △PAQ. Thus AP=AQ.
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Source: MathNet,
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