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Michael Keyton Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) 1500 W. Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL 60506 keyton@imsa.edu
Theorems of Mystery
The conditions of collinearity, concurrence, equidistance, parallelism, and perpendicularity are very special in the study of euclidean geometry. If objects are chosen at random in the system, each of these conditions has a zero probability of existence. Definition: A theorem of mystery is a result that has considerable structure with minimal hypotheses. I have assembled my favorite collection of theorems of mystery not necessarily in order of significance and certainly subject to my unique, personal, capricious nature. The theorems are not necessarily covered in high school geometry courses, but could easily be included with the ability now to make excellent drawings using computer programs such as Cabri II. The theorems shown today will be: 9) Varignons Theorem 8) Midpoints of midpoints 7) Orthopole 6) Carnots Theorem 5) Parallel, Circle, Isogonals 4) General Quadrilateral 3) The Third Pedal Triangle 2) Miquels Theorem 1) Brianchons Theorem 0) Pascals Mystic Hexagram Theorem References: [1] Coxeter, H.S. and S.L. Greitzer, Geometry Revisited, MAA, 1967. [2] Eves, Howard, A Survey of Geometry, Allyn and Bacon, 1963. [3] F. G.-M., Exercices de Gomtrie, Editions Jacques Gabay, 1991. [4] Altshiller-Court, N., College Geometry, Johnson Publ. Co., 1925. [5] Honsberger, R., Episodes in 19th and 20th Century Euclidean Geometry, MAA, 1995.
Theorems of Mystery
Number 9
Varignons Theorem: The midpoints of the sides of a quadrilateral are the vertices of a parallelogram. The first mention of this theorem is in a book by the French mathematician Pierre Varignon (1654-1722).
For many years this was my favorite theorem of mystery. It takes an unordered object and creates a very structured one. In addition, since its discovery was relatively late for such a simple discovery (1700), I ask what other theorems lie undetected? It is sometimes called the Varignon quadrilateral. There are many corollaries of this theorem, which makes it even more interesting. C1: If the diagonals of the quadrilateral are congruent, then the Varignon quadrilateral is a rhombus. C2: IF the diagonals of the quadrilateral are perpendicular, then the Varignon quadrilateral is a rectangle. C3: Given a parallelogram, there are infinitely many quadrilaterals that have it as their Varignon quadrilateral. C4: The four triangles inside the quadrilateral but outside the Varignon quadrilateral can be rearranged to form the Varignon quadrilateral. A related theorem to this, another construction of a parallelogram is: Theorem: Construct equilateral triangles on the sides of a quadrilateral, alternating internally and externally. The third vertices of the triangles form a parallelogram.
Number 8
These two are treated as one, for they are immediate extensions of 9). Theorem: (a) The midpoints of the midpoints of the opposite sides of a quadrilateral are the same. (b) The point in (8a) is the midpoint of the midpoints of the diagonals of the quadrilateral.
One of the questions always is Why is this true. Both (8) and (9) go back to a basic theorem, The Midsegment Theorem. Theorem: The line through midpoints of two sides of a triangle is parallel to the third side and the distance between the midpoints is half the length of the third side.
Number 7: Orthopole
Theorem: From the vertices of a triangle, perpendiculars are drawn to a line. From the intersection points of the perpendiculars and the line, perpendiculars are drawn to the sides opposite the respective vertices. These lines are concurrent. The point of concurrence is called the orthopole.
I particularly like this theorem for it takes non-collinearity, uses perpendicularity going through collinearity to concurrence. There are many consequences of this theorem. Corollary: If the line contains the circumcenter of the triangle, then the orthopole lies on the nine-point circle of the triangle.
Corollary: Take one line from each vertex through one of the intersection points of the circle and the opposite side of the triangle. If these lines are concurrent, then the other triple of lines are concurrent.
Such a simple problem, but such a staggering result when phrased as: Theorem: The bisector of an angle of a triangle and the perpendicular bisector of the opposite side of a triangle intersect on the circumcircle of the triangle. Theorem: The isogonals of concurrent cevians are concurrent.
These two theorems are consequences of Miquels theorem, which will be shown in (2). These seem to be difficult; however, the proofs are quite simple by just looking at the problems with the proper view. Another basic property of the quadrilateral is the following surprising result: Theorem: The diagonals of a quadrilateral intersect the line containing the intersections of the opposite sides of the quadrilateral harmonically. (for ABCD, P = AB CD and Q = AD BC, S = BD PQ, T = AC PQ in order P, S, Q, T; PS/ST = PT/TQ.
The fundamental theorem about pedal triangles is: The sums of the squares of the lengths of every other subsegment of the sides of the triangle formed by the feet of the perpendiculars that determine the pedal triangle of a point are equal.
This theorem has a large number of consequences. A few are: Corollary 1: The angles formed clockwise using the Miquel point, a side point and the vertex point are congruent. Corollary 2: The triangle formed by the centers of the three circles is similar to the original triangle. Corollary 3: The triangles formed by any set of three points that produce the same Miquel point are similar. Corollary 4: If the three points are the midpoints of the sides of the triangle, then the three circles are congruent, and the Miquel point is the _________. Corollary 5: The three points are collinear iff the Miquel point is on the circumcircle of the triangle.
This theorem due to C.J. Brianchon (1760-1854) couples nicely with the next theorem, Pascals Mystic Hexagram. Brianchons proof uses projective geometry and can be generalized to an ellipse. He used the duality of points and lines. There is a nice euclidean proof due to A. S. Smorgorzhevskii. [1]
This is the dual of Brianchons theorem. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) proved this theorem by the time he was 16. The line is called the Pascal line. The converse of the theorem is not true; however, by extending this theorem to a conic, both it and its converse are true (6 points lie on a conic iff the intersections of the opposite sides of the hexagon formed by the 6 points are collinear.) Since there are 60 ways to order the 6 points on the circle, there are 60 different Pascal lines that result from this theorem. These 60 lines are concurrent in threes in 20 points, called Steiner points. The Steiner points lie in quartets on 15 lines, called Plcker lines. The Pascal lines are also concurrent in trios in another set of 60 points, called Kirkman points. Each Steiner point and 3 of the Kirkman points are collinear in the 20 Cayley lines. They are concurrent in quartets in 15 Salmon points. [2]