Semiperimeter

Last updated April 19, 2024

In geometry, the semiperimeter of a polygon is half its perimeter. Although it has such a simple derivation from the perimeter, the semiperimeter appears frequently enough in formulas for triangles and other figures that it is given a separate name. When the semiperimeter occurs as part of a formula, it is typically denoted by the letter $s$ .

Motivation: triangles

The semiperimeter is used most often for triangles; the formula for the semiperimeter of a triangle with side lengths $a, b, c$

s={\frac {a+b+c}{2}}.

Properties

In any triangle, any vertex and the point where the opposite excircle touches the triangle partition the triangle's perimeter into two equal lengths, thus creating two paths each of which has a length equal to the semiperimeter. If $A, B, B', C'$ are as shown in the figure, then the segments connecting a vertex with the opposite excircle tangency ( $AA', BB', CC'$ , shown in red in the diagram) are known as splitters, and

{\begin{aligned}s&=|AB|+|A'B|=|AB|+|AB'|=|AC|+|A'C|\\&=|AC|+|AC'|=|BC|+|B'C|=|BC|+|BC'|.\end{aligned}}

The three splitters concur at the Nagel point of the triangle.

A cleaver of a triangle is a line segment that bisects the perimeter of the triangle and has one endpoint at the midpoint of one of the three sides. So any cleaver, like any splitter, divides the triangle into two paths each of whose length equals the semiperimeter. The three cleavers concur at the center of the Spieker circle, which is the incircle of the medial triangle; the Spieker center is the center of mass of all the points on the triangle's edges.

A line through the triangle's incenter bisects the perimeter if and only if it also bisects the area.

A triangle's semiperimeter equals the perimeter of its medial triangle.

By the triangle inequality, the longest side length of a triangle is less than the semiperimeter.

Formulas involving the semiperimeter

For triangles

The area $A$ of any triangle is the product of its inradius (the radius of its inscribed circle) and its semiperimeter:

A=rs.

The area of a triangle can also be calculated from its semiperimeter and side lengths $a, b, c$ using Heron's formula:

A={\sqrt {s\left(s-a\right)\left(s-b\right)\left(s-c\right)}}.

The circumradius $R$ of a triangle can also be calculated from the semiperimeter and side lengths:

R={\frac {abc}{4{\sqrt {s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)}}}}.

This formula can be derived from the law of sines.

The inradius is

r={\sqrt {\frac {(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)}{s}}}.

The law of cotangents gives the cotangents of the half-angles at the vertices of a triangle in terms of the semiperimeter, the sides, and the inradius.

The length of the internal bisector of the angle opposite the side of length $a$ is^[1]

t_{a}={\frac {2{\sqrt {bcs(s-a)}}}{b+c}}.

In a right triangle, the radius of the excircle on the hypotenuse equals the semiperimeter. The semiperimeter is the sum of the inradius and twice the circumradius. The area of the right triangle is $(s-a)(s-b)$ where $a, b$ are the legs.

For quadrilaterals

The formula for the semiperimeter of a quadrilateral with side lengths $a, b, c, d$ is

s={\frac {a+b+c+d}{2}}.

One of the triangle area formulas involving the semiperimeter also applies to tangential quadrilaterals, which have an incircle and in which (according to Pitot's theorem) pairs of opposite sides have lengths summing to the semiperimeter—namely, the area is the product of the inradius and the semiperimeter:

K=rs.

The simplest form of Brahmagupta's formula for the area of a cyclic quadrilateral has a form similar to that of Heron's formula for the triangle area:

K={\sqrt {\left(s-a\right)\left(s-b\right)\left(s-c\right)\left(s-d\right)}}.

Bretschneider's formula generalizes this to all convex quadrilaterals:

K={\sqrt {(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)(s-d)-abcd\cdot \cos ^{2}\left({\frac {\alpha +\gamma }{2}}\right)}},

in which $α$ and $γ$ are two opposite angles.

The four sides of a bicentric quadrilateral are the four solutions of a quartic equation parametrized by the semiperimeter, the inradius, and the circumradius.

Regular polygons

The area of a convex regular polygon is the product of its semiperimeter and its apothem.

Circles

The semiperimeter of a circle, also called the semicircumference, is directly proportional to its radius $r$ :

s=\pi \cdot r.\!

The constant of proportionality is the number pi, $π$ .

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equilateral triangle</span> Shape with three equal sides

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhombus</span> Quadrilateral with sides of equal length

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Integer triangle</span> Triangle with integer side lengths

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In Euclidean geometry, an ex-tangential quadrilateral is a convex quadrilateral where the extensions of all four sides are tangent to a circle outside the quadrilateral. It has also been called an exscriptible quadrilateral. The circle is called its excircle, its radius the exradius and its center the excenter. The excenter lies at the intersection of six angle bisectors. These are the internal angle bisectors at two opposite vertex angles, the external angle bisectors at the other two vertex angles, and the external angle bisectors at the angles formed where the extensions of opposite sides intersect. The ex-tangential quadrilateral is closely related to the tangential quadrilateral.

In Euclidean geometry, a tangential trapezoid, also called a circumscribed trapezoid, is a trapezoid whose four sides are all tangent to a circle within the trapezoid: the incircle or inscribed circle. It is the special case of a tangential quadrilateral in which at least one pair of opposite sides are parallel. As for other trapezoids, the parallel sides are called the bases and the other two sides the legs. The legs can be equal, but they don't have to be.

In Euclidean geometry, a right kite is a kite that can be inscribed in a circle. That is, it is a kite with a circumcircle. Thus the right kite is a convex quadrilateral and has two opposite right angles. If there are exactly two right angles, each must be between sides of different lengths. All right kites are bicentric quadrilaterals, since all kites have an incircle. One of the diagonals divides the right kite into two right triangles and is also a diameter of the circumcircle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acute and obtuse triangles</span> Triangles without a right angle

An acute triangle is a triangle with three acute angles. An obtuse triangle is a triangle with one obtuse angle and two acute angles. Since a triangle's angles must sum to 180° in Euclidean geometry, no Euclidean triangle can have more than one obtuse angle. Acute and obtuse triangles are the two different types of oblique triangles — triangles that are not right triangles because they do not have a 90° angle.

In plane geometry, a mixtilinear incircle of a triangle is a circle which is tangent to two of its sides and internally tangent to its circumcircle. The mixtilinear incircle of a triangle tangent to the two sides containing vertex $is called the -mixtilinear incircle. Every triangle has three unique mixtilinear incircles, one corresponding to each vertex.$

References

↑ Johnson, Roger A. (2007). Advanced Euclidean Geometry. Mineola, New York: Dover. p. 70. ISBN 9780486462370.

External links

Weisstein, Eric W. "Semiperimeter". MathWorld .

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[Johnson-1] Johnson, Roger A. (2007). Advanced Euclidean Geometry. Mineola, New York: Dover. p. 70. ISBN 9780486462370.

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