Final Part 2

by Keith Leatham


Construct any triangle ABC and, given any point P (for now inside the triangle), extend rays from the vertices of the triangle through P, resulting in the following diagram:

Proposition:


Proof: This proof depends on the construction of lines, one through A and one through C, both parallel to ray BF:


We next notice 5 pairs of congruent triangles:

And finally,


Now, since corresponding parts of congruent triangles are congruent, we gleen the following proportions:

Then .

And thus .


This proposition is actually true for some values of P outside of triangle ABC. To explore this you may click here to open a GSP worksheet. Move P around and notice how this ratio stays constant, as well as when it becomes undefined.


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