Two lines: $a_1x + b_1y + c_1 = 0$ and $a_2x + b_2y + c_2 = 0$ are given. I know that the equation of its bisectors is ${a_1x + b_1y + c_1 \over \sqrt{(a_1^2 + b_1^2)}} = \pm {a_2x + b_2y + c_2 \over\sqrt{ (a_2^2 + b_2^2)}}$ But I intend to find which one is the obtuse angle bisector and which one is the acute angle bisector. I want to find a general formula Assuming $c_1 , c_2$ both are of same sign, I know if $a_1a_2 + b_1b_2 > 0$ and if we take the positive sign we get the obtuse angle bisector and vice versa. But I want to prove it using general equation of line, I tried to find the angle between bisector and original line i.e. $tan θ = {m_1 – m_2 \over 1+ m_1m_2}$ and then if it is greater than one it will be of obtuse angle but calculations are tough if we use general equation of line. May anyone give a simple proof of the following statement: "Assuming $c_1 , c_2$ both are of same sign IF $a_1a_2 + b_1b_2 > 0 $then if we take positive sign we get the obtuse angle bisector".
[Math] How to find whether equation of angle bisector represents the obtuse or acute angle bisector of two given straight lines
analytic geometry
Related Solutions
Expanding my comment above.
For the second part of your question, which is the easier one. Two straight lines $$a_{1}x+b_{1}y=c_{1}\qquad (1)\qquad\text{ and }a_{2}x+b_{2}y=c_{2}\qquad(2)$$ are parallel if and only if $a_{1}b_{2}-a_{2}b_{1}=0$, because only then their slope $% m=-a_{1}/b_{1}=-a_{2}/b_{2}$ is the same (in other words the system of linear equations (1) and (2) has no solutions, its determinant vanishes). Let $b_{1}b_{2}\neq 0$. From $(1)$ and $(2)$ we get, respectively, $y=-\frac{ a_{1}}{b_{1}}x+\frac{c_{1}}{b_{1}}$ and $y=-\frac{a_{2}}{b_{2}}x+\frac{c_{2} }{b_{2}}$. The first line crosses the $y$-axe at $(c_{1}/b_{1},0)$, while the second, at $(c_{2}/b_{2},0)$. Since the straight line parallel to these two and equidistant to them crosses the $y$-axe at $\left( \left( c_{1}/b_{1}+c_{2}/b_{2}\right) /2,0\right) $, and has the same slope $m$, its equation is $$y=-\frac{a_{1}}{b_{1}}x+\frac{1}{2}\left( \frac{c_{1}}{b_{1}}+\frac{c_{2}}{b_{2}}\right) ,\qquad (3)$$ which is equivalent to $$a_{1}x+b_{1}y-\frac{\ c_{1}b_{2}+c_{2}b_{1}}{2b_{2}}=0 .\qquad (4)$$
Without loss of generality assume that $b_{1}=0$ and $a_{1}\neq 0$. Then $(1)$ becomes $x=c_{1}/a_{1}$ and $(2)$ should be of the form $x=c_{2}/a_{2}$, if both lines are parallel. The line equidistant to both is given by the equation $x=\left( c_{1}/a_{1}+c_{2}/a_{2}\right) /2$.
If your equations are $y=c_{1}/b_{1}$ and $y=c_{2}/b_{2}$, the line equidistant to them is given by $y=\left( c_{1}/b_{1}+c_{2}/b_{2}\right) /2$.
Added. As for the main question I got a different solution, namely, the lines whose equations are
$$\left( a_{1}\sqrt{a_{2}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}}-a_{2}\sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+b_{1}^{2}}% \right) x+\left( b_{1}\sqrt{a_{2}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}}-b_{2}\sqrt{% a_{1}^{2}+b_{1}^{2}}\right) y$$
$$=c_{1}\sqrt{a_{2}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}}-c_{2}\sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+b_{1}^{2}}\qquad \left( 5\right) $$
and
$$\left( a_{1}\sqrt{a_{2}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}}+a_{2}\sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+b_{1}^{2}}% \right) x+\left( b_{1}\sqrt{a_{2}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}}+b_{2}\sqrt{% a_{1}^{2}+b_{1}^{2}}\right) y$$
$$=c_{1}\sqrt{a_{2}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}}+c_{2}\sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+b_{1}^{2}}.\qquad \left( 6\right) $$
The distance $d$ from a point $M(x_{M},y_{M})$ to a straight line $r$ whose equation is $Ax+By+C=0$ can be derived algebraically as follows:
i) Find the equation of the straight line $s$ passing through $M$ and being orthogonal to $r$. Call $N$ the intersecting point of $r$ and $s$;
ii) Find the co-ordinates of $N(x_{N},y_{N})$;
iii) Find the distance from $M$ to $N$. This distance is $d$;
after which we get the formula
$$d=\frac{\left\vert Ax_{M}+By_{M}+C\right\vert }{\sqrt{A^{2}+B^{2}}}.\qquad (\ast )$$
The distances from $M$ to lines $(1)$ and $(2)$ are thus given by
$$d_{i}=\frac{\left\vert a_{i}x_{M}+b_{i}y_{M}-c_{i}\right\vert }{\sqrt{ a_{i}^{2}+b_{i}^{2}}}.\qquad i=1,2$$
The points $P(x,y)$ that are equidistant to lines (1) and (2) define two lines which are the solutions of $d_{1}=d_{2}$:
$$\frac{\left\vert a_{1}x+b_{1}y-c_{1}\right\vert }{\sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+b_{1}^{2}}}=\frac{\left\vert a_{2}x+b_{2}y-c_{2}\right\vert }{\sqrt{a_{2}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}}}. \qquad (\ast \ast )$$
Therefore, RHS and LHS should have the same or opposite sign:
$$\frac{a_{1}x+b_{1}y-c_{1}}{\sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+b_{1}^{2}}}=\pm \frac{a_{2}x+b_{2}y-c_{2}}{\sqrt{a_{2}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}}}.\qquad (\ast \ast \ast )$$
Equations $(5)$ and $(6)$ for the two angle bisectors follow.
Example: For $a_{1}=b_{1}=b_{2}=c_{1}=1,a_{2}=c_{2}=2$, we have $x+y=1$ and $2x+y=2$. The equidistant lines are
$$\left( \sqrt{5}-2\sqrt{2}\right) x+\left( \sqrt{5}-\sqrt{2}\right) y=\sqrt{5% }-2\sqrt{2}$$
and
$$\left( \sqrt{5}+2\sqrt{2}\right) x+\left( \sqrt{5}+\sqrt{2}\right) y=\sqrt{5}+2\sqrt{2}.$$
Graph of $x+y=1$, $2x+y=2$ and angle bisectors.
The formula $$ d_1(x,y) = \frac{\lvert a_1x+b_1y+c_1 \rvert}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}} $$ gives you the distance from a point $(x,y)$ to the line $L_1$ whose equation is $a_1x+b_1y+c_1 = 0.$ See Distance Between A Point And A Line for a proof of this. For the line $L_2$ given by $a_2x+b_2y+c_2 = 0,$ the distance of a point to the line is given by $$ d_2(x,y) = \frac{\lvert a_2x+b_2y+c_2 \rvert}{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}. $$
A point $(x,y)$ on an angle bisector between two lines is equidistant from the two lines, that is, it satisfies the condition $d_1(x,y) = d_2(x,y).$ Writing out the formulas for $d_1$ and $d_2$ in full, $$ \frac{\lvert a_1x+b_1y+c_1 \rvert}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}} = \frac{\lvert a_2x+b_2y+c_2 \rvert}{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}. $$
Now observe that $\lvert a_1x+b_1y+c_1 \rvert$ will be either $a_1x+b_1y+c_1$ or $-(a_1x+b_1y+c_1),$ whichever of those two expressions is positive. In fact, $a_1x+b_1y+c_1$ will be positive for all points on one side of the line and negative for all points on the other side.
Now if the lines $L_1$ and $L_2$ intersect, they divide the plane into four regions. Label each these regions as $+L_1$ or $-L_1$ depending on whether $a_1x+b_1y+c_1$ is (respectively) positive or negative in that region. Label each region as $+L_2$ or $-L_2$ depending on whether $a_2x+b_2y+c_2$ is (respectively) positive or negative in that region.
One of the angle bisectors of $L_1$ and $L_2$ will go through the regions labeled $+L_1,+L_2$ or $-L_1,-L_2.$ That is, on that line the signs of $a_1x+b_1y+c_1$ and $a_2x+b_2y+c_2$ are either both positive or both negative. Points on this line therefore satisfy the formula $$ \frac{a_1x+b_1y+c_1 }{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}} = \frac{a_2x+b_2y+c_2 }{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}. $$ (For points in the region $-L_1,-L_2,$ this formula gives negative values on both sides, but their absolute values are equal.)
The other angle bisector goes through $+L_1,-L_2$ and $-L_1,+L_2$ and has the formula $$ \frac{a_1x+b_1y+c_1 }{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}} = - \frac{a_2x+b_2y+c_2 }{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}. $$
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Best Answer
We have two lines : $$L_1 : a_1x+b_1y+c_1=0,\quad L_2 : a_2x+b_2y+c_2=0$$
and the angle bisectors : $$L_{\pm} : \frac{a_1x+b_1y+c_1}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}}=\pm\frac{a_2x+b_2y+c_2}{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}$$
If we let $\theta$ be the (smaller) angle between $L_+$ and $L_1$, then we have $$\cos\theta=\frac{\left|a_1\left(\frac{a_1}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}}-\frac{a_2}{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}\right)+b_1\left(\frac{b_1}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}}-\frac{b_2}{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}\right)\right|}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}\sqrt{\left(\frac{a_1}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}}-\frac{a_2}{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}\right)^2+\left(\frac{b_1}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}}-\frac{b_2}{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}\right)^2}}$$
$$=\frac{\left|\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}-\frac{a_1a_2+b_1b_2}{\sqrt{a_2^2+b_2^2}}\right|}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}\sqrt{2-2\frac{a_1a_2+b_1b_2}{\sqrt{(a_1^2+b_1^2)(a_2^2+b_2^2)}}}}\times\frac{2\frac{1}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}}}{2\frac{1}{\sqrt{a_1^2+b_1^2}}}=\sqrt{\frac{1-\frac{a_1a_2+b_1b_2}{\sqrt{(a_1^2+b_1^2)(a_2^2+b_2^2)}}}{2}}$$
Hence, we can see that $$\begin{align}a_1a_2+b_1b_2\gt 0&\iff\cos\theta\lt 1/\sqrt 2\\&\iff \theta\gt 45^\circ\\&\iff \text{$L_+$ is the obtuse angle bisector}\end{align}$$ as desired.
(Note that "$c_1,c_2$ both are of same sign" is irrelevant.)