Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it

In triangle ABCABC, the difference between angles BB and CC is equal to 90o90^o, and ALAL is the angle bisector of triangle ABCABC. The bisector of the exterior angle AA of the triangle ABCABC intersects the line BCBC at the point FF. Prove that AL=AFAL = AF.

(Alexander Dzyunyak)

Solution

1. Given Information and Assumptions:
- In triangle ABCABC, the difference between angles BB and CC is 9090^\circ.
- ALAL is the angle bisector of BAC\angle BAC.
- The bisector of the exterior angle at AA intersects BCBC at point FF.

2. Determine Angles:
- Let CBA=β\angle CBA = \beta.
- Since BC=90\angle B - \angle C = 90^\circ, we have C=β90\angle C = \beta - 90^\circ.
- The sum of angles in triangle ABCABC is 180180^\circ, so:
BAC=180CBAACB=180β(β90)=902β \angle BAC = 180^\circ - \angle CBA - \angle ACB = 180^\circ - \beta - (\beta - 90^\circ) = 90^\circ - 2\beta

3. **Angle Bisector ALAL:**
- The angle bisector ALAL divides BAC\angle BAC into two equal parts:
BAL=CAL=12BAC=12(902β)=45β \angle BAL = \angle CAL = \frac{1}{2} \angle BAC = \frac{1}{2} (90^\circ - 2\beta) = 45^\circ - \beta

4. **Angles in Triangle CLACLA:**
- In triangle CLACLA, we need to find CLA\angle CLA:
CLA=180CALACB=180(45β)(β90)=18045+ββ+90=45 \angle CLA = 180^\circ - \angle CAL - \angle ACB = 180^\circ - (45^\circ - \beta) - (\beta - 90^\circ) = 180^\circ - 45^\circ + \beta - \beta + 90^\circ = 45^\circ

5. **Perpendicularity of ALAL and AFAF:**
- It is known that the interior angle bisector is perpendicular to the exterior angle bisector of the same angle in a triangle. Therefore, ALAFAL \perp AF.

6. **Isosceles Right Triangle LAFLAF:**
- Since LAF=90\angle LAF = 90^\circ and CLA=45\angle CLA = 45^\circ, triangle LAFLAF is an isosceles right triangle with ALF=45\angle ALF = 45^\circ.
- In an isosceles right triangle, the legs are equal, so AL=AFAL = AF.

\blacksquare

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.