How do you prove that angle bisectors are perpendicular to each other given two intersecting lines and their direction vectors

bisectionvectors

Prove that if two lines intersect and have direction vectors $\vec a$ and $\vec b$, their angle bisectors are always perpendicular to each other.

I know that if two vectors are perpendicular to each other they have a scalar product of 0. Would I have to then show that ($\vec a\ + \vec b$)⋅($\vec a\ – \vec b$) = 0 via parallelogram?

Best Answer

It is important that you first normalize vectors $\vec{OA} \, ( = \vec{a})$ and $\vec{OB} \, ( = \vec{b})$. Please see the below diagram as an example. The directional vector of angle bisector is in direction $OE$ but if you do not normalize the vectors, you will get a vector in direction $OF$.

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So, $\vec{OE} = \vec{OC} + \vec{OD}$

Unit vector $\vec{OC} = \displaystyle \frac{\vec{a}}{||a||}$
Unit vector $\vec{OD} = \displaystyle \frac{\vec{b}}{||b||}$

So, $\vec{OE} = \displaystyle \frac{\vec{a}}{||a||} + \frac{\vec{b}}{||b||}$

Directional vector for one of the angle bisectors = $\lambda_1 (||b|| \, \vec{a} + ||a|| \, \vec{b})$

Similarly the directional vector of the other angle bisector = $ \lambda_2 (||a|| \, \vec{b} - ||b|| \, \vec{a})$

Dot product of both angle bisectors = $\lambda_1 \lambda_2 \, (||b|| \, \vec{a} + ||a|| \, \vec{b}) \cdot (||a|| \, \vec{b} - ||b|| \, \vec{a}) = 0$
(as $\vec{a} \cdot \vec{a} = ||a||^2 \,$ and $ \vec{a} \cdot \vec{b} = \vec{b} \cdot \vec{a}$)