Exercise 1989Geometry › Plane geometryOlympiadAdded 5 Nov 2026
Trigonometric Ceva and a hidden isosceles triangle
#trigonometric Ceva#angle chasing#monotonicity
Statement
Let be a point inside triangle such that
Prove that triangle is isosceles and find its angles.
Hint
Let and . The angle sum gives . Then use the trigonometric form of Ceva's theorem, and show that the resulting equation in has only one solution.
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Solution
Angle sum. , , . The sum is , so , i.e. .
Trigonometric Ceva.
Here this reads
Uniqueness. On the function is strictly increasing, so there is at most one solution.
The solution is . Using and , one verifies the equality. Hence is the unique solution.
Conclusion. , , so
Since , we have .
Lesson. Trigonometric Ceva converts a cevian configuration into one trigonometric equation; monotonicity then shows that a guessed solution is the only one.