An interesting problem about circle

Geometry Level 3

There are fixed points C and B in a circle A. AC = 2, BC = 3. D is a moving point on the circle. E is the intersection point of the circle and the line CD. As D moves on circle, the value of tan∠BED * tan∠BDE stays the same.So what is the value? (accurate to 4 decimal places)

I know the value, but I don't know why!


The answer is 0.4286.

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1 solution

Mark Hennings
Feb 7, 2019

With the angles as labelled, note that C B D = 9 0 θ \angle CBD = 90^\circ-\theta and C B E = 9 0 ϕ \angle CBE = 90^\circ - \phi . A couple of applications of the Sine Rule tell us that sin θ 3 = cos ϕ C E \frac{\sin\theta}{3} = \frac{\cos\phi}{CE} and sin ϕ 3 = cos θ C D \frac{\sin\phi}{3} = \frac{\cos\theta}{CD} , so that sin θ sin ϕ 9 = cos θ cos ϕ C E × C D \frac{\sin\theta \sin\phi}{9} \; = \; \frac{\cos\theta \cos\phi}{CE \times CD}

The Intersecting Chords Theorem tells us that C D × C E = C B × C F = 3 × 7 = 21 CD \times CE \; = \; CB \times CF \; = \; 3 \times 7 \; = \; 21 and hence tan θ tan ϕ = 9 C D × C E = 3 7 \tan\theta \tan\phi \; = \; \frac{9}{CD \times CE} \; = \; \boxed{\frac{3}{7}}

I love algebra, it's so powerful:)

Zhiyuan Wang - 2 years, 4 months ago

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