Angle Chasing, huh?

Geometry Level 3

In the above figure, find the measure of the red angle in degrees.


The answer is 20.

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8 solutions

Michael Mendrin
Feb 16, 2016

Yes, you can totally angle chase this problem. First, recognize that the large triangle is an isosceles triangle, and then draw in the lines as shown in graphic. The rest is easy angle chasing, especially after identifying a couple more isosceles triangles.

Moderator note:

Great solution adding in that point, forming a ton of isosceles triangles.

This is really cool !

Venkata Karthik Bandaru - 5 years, 4 months ago

Very nice!

Calvin Lin Staff - 5 years, 3 months ago

Good solution

Harsh Sharma - 5 years, 3 months ago

Moderator note:

Nice solution with setting up the trigonometric forms.

You could have used trigonometric version of Ceva theorem to solve it in a more fast and short way.

Indraneel Mukhopadhyaya - 5 years, 4 months ago

Can you please explain the last equation and how you went from s i n x = 2 s i n 10 s i n ( 100 x ) sinx=2sin10sin(100-x) to s i n x = c o s ( 90 x ) c o s ( 110 x ) sinx=cos(90-x)-cos(110-x)

Anoorag Nayak - 5 years, 4 months ago

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Use the identity 2 s i n A s i n B = c o s ( A B ) c o s ( A + B ) 2sinA sinB = cos(A-B)-cos(A+B) .

Venkata Karthik Bandaru - 5 years, 4 months ago

hey i get an equation in terms of θ \theta can u please solve it for me ??

Chirayu Bhardwaj - 5 years, 4 months ago

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What is it ?

Venkata Karthik Bandaru - 5 years, 4 months ago

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@Venkata Karthik Bandaru it goes like this= s i n 20 s i n ( 60 + θ ) = s i n 10 s i n ( 170 θ ) \frac{sin20}{sin(60+\theta)}=\frac{sin10}{sin(170-\theta)} Solve for θ \theta

Chirayu Bhardwaj - 5 years, 4 months ago

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@Chirayu Bhardwaj Hey, your equation is right. I just plugged in θ = 2 0 \theta = 20^{\circ} and found that the equation is true. Here is the way to solve the equation :

s i n 20 s i n ( 60 + θ ) = s i n 10 s i n ( 170 θ ) \dfrac{sin20}{sin(60+\theta)}=\dfrac{sin10}{sin(170-\theta)} \Rightarrow 2 s i n ( 2 0 ) s i n ( 17 0 θ ) = 2 s i n ( 1 0 ) s i n ( 6 0 + θ ) 2sin(20^{\circ})sin(170^{\circ}-\theta) = 2sin(10^{\circ})sin(60^{\circ}+\theta) . Now apply the identity 2 s i n A s i n B = c o s ( A B ) c o s ( A + B ) 2sinA sinB = cos(A-B)-cos(A+B) and simplify. Hope this helps.

Venkata Karthik Bandaru - 5 years, 4 months ago

@Venkata Karthik Bandaru Are u solving ??

Chirayu Bhardwaj - 5 years, 4 months ago

Good solution.

Archit Agrawal - 5 years, 4 months ago

SOLVED THE SAME WAY .........DUDE!!!!!!!

Anubhav Tyagi - 5 years, 3 months ago

Plenty of efforts are required to visualize but way of trigonometry is simplest and best for convincing.

I did in geometry which found coordinates of M and C and tan θ = m 1 m 2 1 + m 1 m 2 \tan \theta = | \frac{m_1 - m_2}{1 + m_1 m2} | for θ = 2 0 . \theta = 20^\circ. This way can hardly make mistake and fast to visualize but the mathematics went through ought to be slightly more complicated. B is assigned as (1, 0).

Lu Chee Ket - 5 years, 4 months ago
James Tait
Feb 15, 2016

I used the sine rule a couple of times to determine that the right-most of the inner triangles was isosceles. Given that the outer triangle was also isosceles it was plain sailing with the sum of angles in a triangle

Did the same brother!

raghav yadav - 5 years, 3 months ago

Great solution

Muhammad Arslan Maan - 5 years, 1 month ago

I will use the law of sines on three triangles to get to the solution.

Identity I: s i n ( 20 ° ) C M = s i n ( 100 ° θ ) B M \frac{sin(20°)}{\overline{CM}} = \frac{sin(100° - \theta)}{\overline{BM}} on triangle BCM, which can be written as:

B M = C M s i n ( 100 ° θ ) s i n ( 20 ° ) \overline{BM} = \overline{CM}*\frac{sin(100° - \theta)}{sin(20°)}

Identity II: s i n ( 10 ° ) C M = s i n ( θ ) A M \frac{sin(10°)}{\overline{CM}} = \frac{sin(\theta)}{\overline{AM}} on triangle ACM, which can be written as:

1 A M = s i n ( θ ) s i n ( 10 ° ) C M \frac{1}{\overline{AM}} = \frac{sin(\theta)}{sin(10°)*\overline{CM}}

Identity III: s i n ( 30 ° ) B M = s i n ( 20 ° ) A M \frac{sin(30°)}{\overline{BM}} = \frac{sin(20°)}{\overline{AM}} on triangle ABM, which can be written as:

B M A M = s i n ( 30 ° ) s i n ( 20 ° ) \frac{\overline{BM}}{\overline{AM}} = \frac{sin(30°)}{sin(20°)}

Now, if we multiply the first two identities, we get: B M A M = s i n ( 10 ° ) s i n ( 100 ° θ ) s i n ( 20 ° ) s i n ( θ ) \frac{\overline{BM}}{\overline{AM}} = \frac{sin(10°)*sin(100° - \theta)}{sin(20°)*sin(\theta)}

From here, we derive that: s i n ( 30 ° ) s i n ( 20 ° ) = s i n ( 10 ° ) s i n ( 100 ° θ ) s i n ( 20 ° ) s i n ( θ ) \frac{sin(30°)}{sin(20°)} = \frac{sin(10°)*sin(100° - \theta)}{sin(20°)*sin(\theta)} , which can be simplified to: s i n ( 30 ° ) s i n ( θ ) = s i n ( 10 ° ) s i n ( 100 ° θ ) sin(30°)*sin(\theta) = sin(10°)*sin(100° - \theta) .

Now, s i n ( 100 ° θ ) = s i n ( 90 ° + 10 ° θ ) sin(100° - \theta) = sin(90° + 10° - \theta) , which also can be written as c o s ( 10 ° θ ) cos(10° - \theta) . Plugging it back into the previous equality:

s i n ( 30 ° ) s i n ( θ ) = s i n ( 10 ° ) c o s ( 10 ° θ ) sin(30°)*sin(\theta) = sin(10°)*cos(10° - \theta) .

The left hand side can be broken into the sum of two sines divided by two:

s i n ( 10 ° ) c o s ( 10 ° θ ) = 1 2 ( s i n ( 20 ° θ ) + s i n ( θ ) ) sin(10°)*cos(10° - \theta) = \frac{1}{2}*(sin(20° - \theta) + sin(\theta))

And since we also know that s i n ( 30 ° ) = 1 2 sin(30°) = \frac{1}{2} , we can rewrite the equality again yielding:

s i n ( θ ) 2 = s i n ( 20 ° θ ) + s i n ( θ ) 2 \frac{sin(\theta)}{2} = \frac{sin(20° - \theta) + sin(\theta)}{2}

Therefore, s i n ( 20 ° θ ) 2 = 0 s i n ( 20 ° θ ) = 0 \frac{sin(20° - \theta)}{2} = 0 \rightarrow sin(20° - \theta) = 0

This would potentially yield an infinitude of solutions, yet since we know that theta is an interior angle of a triangle (therefore 0 < θ < 180 0 < \theta < 180 ) as well as it is an angle no greater than 100 ° 100° , we see that the only possible solution is θ = 20 ° \theta = 20° .

Milind Blaze
Apr 28, 2016

In the above question let the required angle be θ \theta , then using Trigonometric form of Ceva's theorem, we have

( s i n θ sin \theta )( s i n 3 0 sin 30^\circ )( s i n 2 0 sin 20^\circ )=( s i n 10 0 θ sin100^\circ-\theta )( s i n 1 0 sin10^\circ )( s i n 2 0 sin20^\circ )

This amounts to ( s i n θ sin \theta )=2( s i n 10 0 θ sin 100^\circ-\theta )( s i n 1 0 sin 10^\circ )

which upon simplifying using 2( s i n A sinA )( s i n B sinB )=( c o s A B cos A-B ) - ( c o s A + B cosA+B ) gives

c o s ( 11 0 θ cos(110^\circ-\theta )=0

θ = 2 0 \implies \theta=20^\circ

And yes, it is equivalent to using the sine rule many times.

Chris Spark
Mar 15, 2016

The whole triangle has angles 40, 40, 100 so is isosceles. Let the two equal sides be x

Use the cosine rule to get the third side to be x multiplied by root(2-2cos100) = 1.532x

Use the sine rule to get the length from the point inside the main triangle to the right corner to be 1.532x times sin(30)/ sin(130) = x

Now this makes the internal triangle on the right isosceles with apex angle 20, so base angles both 80

Since the main triangle has an angle of 100 at the top, the red part must be 100-80 = 20

Nikola Djuric
Feb 25, 2016

Call the centre O,so OA/OB=sin(20°)/sin(30°) sine theorem for triangle ABO,

Also from sine theorem for triangles AOC and BCO we have

put x=<OCA,then <BCO=180°-(20°+20°+30°+10°+x)=100°-x

so AO/OC=sin(x)/sin(10°) , OB/OC=sin(100°-x)/sin(20°)

so AO/OB=(sin(x)/sin(10°))/(sin(100°-x)/sin(20°))=sin(20°)/(0.5)

so 0.5 sin(x)sin(20°)=sin(10°)sin(20°) sin(100°-x)

so 0.5sin(x)=sin(10°)*sin(100°-x)

sin(x)=2sin(10°) (cos(10°) cos(x)+sin(10°)sin(x))

sin(x) cos(20°)=sin(20°) cos(x)

tg(x)=tg(20°)

so x=20° or x=200° but because x<100°

we choose x=20°

Amed Lolo
Feb 25, 2016

angle {bca}={cab}=40° so side cb=CA=p. put side AB=u ,,cos(40)=p^2+u^2-p^2÷(2pu.cos40) so u=2cos40.p. I used a graphical solution by assuming side p & draw the triangle 3 times with 3 different values of side p and every time by using angular scaler the unknown angle equal to 20 degree .

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