Similar Figures
We Solve Problems
2025-04-26
It is often the case in geometric situations that figures look very similar, but not quite
equal. Two polygons on the plane are called similar if and only if ALL their corresponding
angles are equal AND the ratio between ALL the corresponding sides is the same.
The relation between the corresponding sides, in our case it’s |AB||IH|
, is called the similarity
coefficient between the figures. It is common practice to write vertices of similar figures in
the order that respects the similarity.
We will find some criteria for determining similarity and apply them to solve problems. The
statements of some examples and problems may be helpful for problems coming after them!
Example 1. Let △ABC and △DEF be triangles such that the following angles are equal:
∠ABC = ∠DEF and ∠ACB = ∠DF E. Prove that △ABC and △DEF are similar trian-
gles.
Solution to Example 1. Draw the triangle △D1 E1 C with vertices D1 and E1 on the lines
AC and BC respectively, then ∠ABC = ∠D1 E1 C, so the lines AB and D1 E1 are parallel.
Therefore |CE 1|
|CB|
= |CD 1|
|CA|
= |D|AB|
1 E1 |
and triangles △D1 E1 C and △ABC are similar.
Example 2. The medians AD and BE of the triangle △ABC intersect at the point F . Prove
that △AF B and △DF E are similar. What is their similarity coefficient?
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Solution to Example 2. Since |CD| = 21 |CB| and |CE| = 21 |AC| the lines ED and AB
are parallel, moreover |DE|
|BA|
= 12 . Then the following angles are equal: ∠EDF = ∠BAF and
∠DEF = ∠ABF . Since two of their angles are equal, △AF B and △DF E are similar, the
|BA|
similarity coefficient equals the relation of the corresponding sides, which is |DE| = 2.
Example 3. In a triangle △ABC, the angle ∠B = 90◦ . The altitude from point B intersects
AC at D. We know the lengths |AD| = 9 and |CD| = 25. What is the length |BD|?
Solution to Example 3. We can see that all the triangles △ABC, △ADB and △BDC
have the same internal angles. Hence they are all similar and thus have proportional sides.
We see that the ratio between |CD| and |BD| is the same as the ratio between |BD| and
|AD|.
In other words, if we denote |BD| = x, we know that x9 = 25 x
. That can be transformed to
x2 = 9 × 25, so x = 3 × 5 = 15.
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Don’t forget to ask the tutors to record your solutions.
Problems of the Week
Problem 1. Let △ABC and △DEF be two triangles such that ∠ACB = ∠DF E and
|DF | |EF |
|AC|
= |BC| . Prove that △ABC and △DEF are similar.
Problem 2. Let AA1 and BB1 be the medians of the triangle △ABC. Prove that △A1 B1 C
and △BAC are similar. What is the similarity coefficient?
Problem 3. Let AD and BE be the heights of the triangle △ABC, which intersect at the
point F . Prove that △AF E and △BF D are similar.
Problem 4. The perimeter of the triangle △ABC is 10. Let D, E, F be the midpoints of
the segments AB, BC, AC respectively. What is the perimeter of △DEF ?
Extra-Difficult Problems
Problem 5. Let AD and BE be the heights of the triangle △ABC. Prove that △DEC and
△ABC are similar.
Problem 6. The area of the red triangle is 25 and the area of the orange triangle is 49.
What is the area of the trapezium ABCD?
Problem 7. Prove that the ratio of perimeters of similar polygons is equal to the similarity
coefficient.
Problem 8. Let CB and CD be tangents to the circle with the centre A, let E be the point
of intersection of the line AC with the circle. Draw F G as the segment of a tangent drawn
through the point E between the lines CB and CD. Find the length |F G| if the radius of
the circle is 15 and |AC| = 39.
Olympiad-style Problems
Problem 9. Prove that the relation between areas of two similar polygons equals to the
square of their similarity coefficient.
Problem 10. Let △ABC be a triangle and D be a point on the edge BC so that the segment
|AB| |AC|
AD bisects the angle ∠BAC. Show that |BD| = |CD| .
Problem 11. In triangle △ABC with right angle ∠ACB = 90◦ , CD is the height and CE
is the bisector. Draw the bisectors DF and DG of the triangles BDC and ADC. Prove that
CF EG is a square.