I was trying to solve this problem:
Let P be a point in the interior of rectangle ABCD. Given PA = 3, PD = 4 and PC = 5, find PB.
I feel lost because it's not right to assume P is in the center of the rectangle, I understand it can be anywhere. So what can I learn from lines that connect a vertex to P? The triangles must be similar because they share sides, but I can't prove it. I tried to learn something about the angles of the triangles by drawing parallel lines to the sides of the rectangle, so I could use a lot of properties, but that didn't help me much...
Once I could write four different equations with four variables, I even solved it... but it was the wrong answer. Oh, yeah, I have the answer just as a number, the book says nothing about how to get to it.
The problem seems very simple, but I can't solve it.
[Edit: solved it]
I've drawn this image.
And I've written these equations: $ 3^2=a^2+c^2\\4^2=b^2+c^2\\5^2=b^2+d^2\\x^2=a^2+d^2 $ Isolating $c^2$ and $d^2$, I got: $ c^2 = 3^2 - a^2\quad\land\quad c^2 = 4^2 - b^2\\then\\ [I]\quad3^2 - a^2 = 4^2 - b^2\\AND\\ d^2 = 5^2 - b^2\quad\land\quad d^2 = x^2 - a^2\\then\\ [II]\quad5^2 - b^2 = x^2 - a^2 $ I isolated $a^2$ and $b^2$ in $I$ to get a number, which gave me $b^2 - a^2 = 4^2 - 3^2$. And finally I substituted $I$ into $II$, like this: $ 5^2 - x^2 = b^2 - a^2\quad\Rightarrow\quad 5^2 - x^2 = 4^2 - 3^2\\x=3\sqrt2 $
But I'm wondering if there's a better way. I didn't like having to write down 4 different equations.