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Geometry Level 3

Lines l l and m m in the x y xy -coordinate plane have slopes 3 and 5, respectively. Find the slope of line n n , where n n bisects the acute angle formed by l l and m m .

Express answer to 5 decimal places.


The answer is 3.76556.

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3 solutions

Debtanu Bhuiya's method is better. But just to give another method.
With vertex at (0, 0), form an isosceles triangle with l and m.
n will pass through (0, 0) and midpoint of the base of the triangle.
Take any point on l, say (1, 3). Then (x, 5x) will be the vertex on m.
The sides are of same length,
1 2 + 3 2 = x 2 + 25 x 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . x = 5 / 13 1^{2} + 3^{2} = x^{2} + 25x^{2} ............. x = \sqrt{5/13}
The point on m is ( 5 / 13 , 5 5 / 13 ) (\sqrt{5/13}, 5\sqrt{5/13} )
The midpoint is ( ( 1 + 5 / 13 ) / 2 , ( 3 + 5 5 / 13 ) / 2 ) ( (1 + \sqrt{5/13})/2, (3 + 5\sqrt{5/13})/2 )


Slope of n is ( 3 + 5 5 / 13 ) / 2 ÷ ( 1 + 5 / 13 ) / 2 = 3.76556 (3 + 5\sqrt{5/13})/2 \div (1 + \sqrt{5/13})/2 = 3.76556
3.76556 \boxed {3.76556}

Jaydee Lucero
Jul 25, 2014

Hint : I did it in two ways: 1) using the definition of slope in terms of the tangent of the angle of inclination of the line,or 2) getting the distance of each line from the angle bisector.

Debtanu Bhuiya
Jun 12, 2014

It is (arctan5+arctan3)÷2=74.89° Hence tan74.89°= 3.70359

Nice method. Congratulation.

Niranjan Khanderia - 6 years, 11 months ago

actually its ((arctan(5)+arctan(3))÷2 + arctan(3)) = 75.12755935 hence tan(ans) = 3.76556

Mohamed Moanis - 6 years, 11 months ago

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