Angle between the median and altitude to one side of an isosceles triangle

euclidean-geometrygeometrytrianglestrigonometry

Can this be solved without trigonometry?

$AB$ is the base of an isosceles $\triangle ABC$. Vertex angle $C$ is $50^\circ$. Find the angle between the altitude and the median drawn from vertex $A$ to the opposite side.

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I think I know how to do this using the Law of Cosines.

Call the side of the isosceles triangle $x$, $CA=CB=x$, and let $E$ be the midpoint of $BC$. Then in the triangle formed by the median, $\triangle CAE$, using the Law of Cosines:

$$AE = \sqrt{x^2 + \frac{x^2}4-2\frac{x^2}{2}\cos50^\circ}$$

From this you can find $AE$ in terms of $x$.

Then apply the Law of Cosines again to find $\angle CAE$ using
$$CE=\frac{x}{2}= \sqrt{x^2 + AE^2-2xAE\cos\angle CAE}$$
and from $\cos\angle CAE$ you find $\angle CAE$, and the angle we want is $40^\circ-\angle CAE$.

But is it possible w/o trig?

Best Answer

Using trigonometry, the angle in question is approximately equal, in degrees, to $$ 10.558536057412143196227467316938626443256567512439 $$ which, given the lack of an apparent repeating block, is almost certainly not a rational number.

Hence you should not expect a solution vis synthetic geometry.