--- tags: Euclidean_Geometry --- Regular Pentagon with a Right Triangle Inside === See the picture. ![](https://i.imgur.com/P5J1P64.png) Let $ABCDE$ be a regular pentagon. And let $F$ and $G$ be two points on $\overline{BC}$ and $\overline{CD}$ respectively such that $\angle FAG =36^{\circ}$ and $\overline{AF}\bot\overline{FG}$. Show the following. * $\overline{EG}$ bisects $\angle CED$; that is $\angle GED =18^{\circ}$. * $A,F,G,E$ are cocyclic. * $\overline{BF}=\overline{FC}$. __A Computational Proof__ ```python= ## Use SageMath to execute the following code. computational_proof = r""" Without loss of generality, we may assume that the length of one side of the regular pentagon is 1. Let θ=∠BAF, δ=∠GED, x=BF and z=CG. By applying the law of sines on these triangles, ΔABF, ΔCGF, and ΔGDE, we obtain the following equations. x=sinθ/sin(72°-θ) ............................(1) tan(36°)=FG/AF=(1-x)sinθ/(x*sin(54°-θ)) ......(2) z=(1-x)sin(18°+θ)/sin(54°-θ) .................(3) sin(δ)/sin(72°-δ)=1-z ........................(4) There are four equations to solve four variables. Note that θ and δ belong to (0,3π/5). In equation (2), we replace x via equation (1) and get sin(54°-θ)tan(36°)=2cos(36°)sin(36°-θ) .......(5) Let α=18°+θ. By (5), we have that tan(θ)=(tan(36°)sin(54°)-2cos(36°)sin(36°))/(tan(36°)cos(54°)-2cos^2(36°)) tan(α)=(tan(36°)sin(72°)-2cos(36°)sin(54°))/(tan(36°)cos(72°)-2cos(36°)cos(54°)) From (1), (2) and (3), we can derive that z=tan(α)tan(36°), and by substitute it in equation (4), we get sin(δ)/sin(72°-δ)=1-tan(α)tan(36°) Let r := 1-tan(α)tan(36°). Then tan(δ)=r*sin(72°)/(1+r*cos(72°)) ..............(6) In the following code, we will check these equations tan(θ)=sin(72°)/(2+cos(72°)) ..................(7) r*sin(72°)/(1+r*cos(72°))=sin(18°)/cos(18°) ...(8) """ ## s{number} means sin(number°) and c{number} means cos(number°) var("s18 c18") s36 = 2*s18*c18 c36 = c18^2-s18^2 s54 = 3*s18-4*s18^3 c54 = 4*c18^3 - 3*c18 s72 = 2*s36*c36 c72 = c36^2-s36^2 ## Check equation (7) tan_theta=(s36*s54/c36-2*c36*s36)/(s36*c54/c36-2*c36^2) cross1 = (tan_theta.numerator())*(2+c72) - (tan_theta.denominator())*s72 show(cross1.substitute({s18:sin(pi/10),c18:cos(pi/10)}).factor()) ## print 0 ## Check equation (8) tan_alpha = (s36*s72/c36-2*c36*s54)/(s36*c72/c36-2*c36*c54) r = 1-tan_alpha*s36/c36 tan_delta = (r*s72/(1+r*c72)).factor() cross2 = (tan_delta.numerator())*c18 - (tan_delta.denominator())*s18 show(cross2.substitute({s18:sin(pi/10),c18:cos(pi/10)}).factor()) ## print 0 computational_proof_continued = r""" Now by (7), we have that 2sin(θ)=sin(72°)cos(θ)-cos(72°)sin(θ)=sin(72°-θ), whence x=sinθ/sin(72°-θ)=1/2. By (6) and (8), we have that δ=18°. So ∠GEA=90° and thus ∠GEA+∠GFA=180°, which infers that A,F,G,E are cocyclic. """ ``` __A Geometric Proof__ Let $H$ be the midpoint of $\overline{AG}$. Extend $\overline{CH}$, and let $P$ be the intersection point of $\overleftrightarrow{CH}$ and $\overline{AE}$. Since $\angle FHG+\angle FCG=180^{\circ}$, $F,C,G,H$ must be cocyclic. So $\angle HCF=\angle FGH=54^{\circ}$, and hence $\overline{CP}$ bisects $\angle BCD$. Therefore $P$ is the midpoint of $\overline{AE}$ and $\overline{CP}\bot\overline{AE}$. Now consider $\triangle{AGE}$. Since $\overline{AH}/\overline{AG}=1/2=\overline{AP}/\overline{AE}$, we have $\overline{PH}/\!/\overline{EG}$. Thus $\angle AEG=90^{\circ}$ and $\angle GED=18^{\circ}$. Since $\angle AEG+\angle AFG=180^{\circ}$, $A,F,G,E$ are cocyclic. Furthermore, we have that $\angle AEF=\angle AGF=54^{\circ}$, and hence that $\overline{EF}$ bisects $\angle AED$, wherefore $F$ is the midpoint of $\overline{BC}$.$\blacksquare$