Viviani's theorem, named after Vincenzo Viviani, states that the sum of the shortest distances from any interior point to the sides of an equilateral triangle equals the length of the triangle's altitude. [1] It is a theorem commonly employed in various math competitions, secondary school mathematics examinations, and has wide applicability to many problems in the real world.
| 1. | Shortest distances from point P to sides of equilateral triangle ABC are shown. |
| 2. | Lines DE, FG, and HI parallel to AB, BC and CA, respectively, and passing through P define similar triangles PHE, PFI and PDG. |
| 3. | As these triangles are equilateral, their altitudes can be rotated to be vertical. |
| 4. | As PGCH is a parallelogram, triangle PHE can be slid up to show that the altitudes sum to that of triangle NUI |
This proof depends on the readily-proved proposition that the area of a triangle is half its base times its height—that is, half the product of one side with the altitude from that side. [2]
Let ABC be an equilateral triangle whose height is h and whose side is a.
Let P be any point inside the triangle, and s, t, u the perpendicular distances of P from the sides. Draw a line from P to each of A, B, and C, forming three triangles PAB, PBC, and PCA.
Now, the areas of these triangles are , , and . They exactly fill the enclosing triangle, so the sum of these areas is equal to the area of the enclosing triangle. So we can write:
and thus
The converse also holds: If the sum of the distances from an interior point of a triangle to the sides is independent of the location of the point, the triangle is equilateral. [3]
Viviani's theorem means that lines parallel to the sides of an equilateral triangle give coordinates for making ternary plots, such as flammability diagrams.
More generally, they allow one to give coordinates on a regular simplex in the same way.
The sum of the distances from any interior point of a parallelogram to the sides is independent of the location of the point. The converse also holds: If the sum of the distances from a point in the interior of a quadrilateral to the sides is independent of the location of the point, then the quadrilateral is a parallelogram. [3]
The result generalizes to any 2n-gon with opposite sides parallel. Since the sum of distances between any pair of opposite parallel sides is constant, it follows that the sum of all pairwise sums between the pairs of parallel sides, is also constant. The converse in general is not true, as the result holds for an equilateral hexagon, which does not necessarily have opposite sides parallel.
If a polygon is regular (both equiangular and equilateral), the sum of the distances to the sides from an interior point is independent of the location of the point. Specifically, it equals n times the apothem, where n is the number of sides and the apothem is the distance from the center to a side. [3] [4] However, the converse does not hold; the non-square parallelogram is a counterexample. [3]
The sum of the distances from an interior point to the sides of an equiangular polygon does not depend on the location of the point. [1]
A necessary and sufficient condition for a convex polygon to have a constant sum of distances from any interior point to the sides is that there exist three non-collinear interior points with equal sums of distances. [1]
The sum of the distances from any point in the interior of a regular polyhedron to the sides is independent of the location of the point. However, the converse does not hold, not even for tetrahedra. [3]
Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or plane area refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while surface area refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-dimensional object. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat. It is the two-dimensional analogue of the length of a curve or the volume of a solid . Two different regions may have the same area ; by synecdoche, "area" sometimes is used to refer to the region, as in a "polygonal area".
In geometry, a polygon is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain.
In geometry a quadrilateral is a four-sided polygon, having four edges (sides) and four corners (vertices). The word is derived from the Latin words quadri, a variant of four, and latus, meaning "side". It is also called a tetragon, derived from Greek "tetra" meaning "four" and "gon" meaning "corner" or "angle", in analogy to other polygons. Since "gon" means "angle", it is analogously called a quadrangle, or 4-angle. A quadrilateral with vertices , , and is sometimes denoted as .
A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called vertices, are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called edges, are one-dimensional line segments. A triangle has three internal angles, each one bounded by a pair of adjacent edges; the sum of angles of a triangle always equals a straight angle. The triangle is a plane figure and its interior is a planar region. Sometimes an arbitrary edge is chosen to be the base, in which case the opposite vertex is called the apex; the shortest segment between the base and apex is the height. The area of a triangle equals one-half the product of height and base length.
In geometry, a hexagon is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.
In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a rectilinear convex polygon or a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal ; or a parallelogram containing a right angle. A rectangle with four sides of equal length is a square. The term "oblong" is used to refer to a non-square rectangle. A rectangle with vertices ABCD would be denoted as ABCD.
In Euclidean geometry, a parallelogram is a simple (non-self-intersecting) quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram are of equal length and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are of equal measure. The congruence of opposite sides and opposite angles is a direct consequence of the Euclidean parallel postulate and neither condition can be proven without appealing to the Euclidean parallel postulate or one of its equivalent formulations.
In geometry, an altitude of a triangle is a line segment through a given vertex and perpendicular to a line containing the side or edge opposite the apex. This (finite) edge and (infinite) line extension are called, respectively, the base and extended base of the altitude. The point at the intersection of the extended base and the altitude is called the foot of the altitude. The length of the altitude, often simply called "the altitude" or "height", symbol h, is the distance between the foot and the apex. The process of drawing the altitude from a vertex to the foot is known as dropping the altitude at that vertex. It is a special case of orthogonal projection.
An equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides have the same length, and all three angles are equal. Because of these properties, the equilateral triangle is a regular polygon, occasionally known as the regular triangle. It is the special case of an isosceles triangle by modern definition, creating more special properties.
In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhombus is often called a "diamond", after the diamonds suit in playing cards which resembles the projection of an octahedral diamond, or a lozenge, though the former sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 60° angle, and the latter sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 45° angle.
In geometry, an equilateral polygon is a polygon which has all sides of the same length. Except in the triangle case, an equilateral polygon does not need to also be equiangular, but if it does then it is a regular polygon. If the number of sides is at least four, an equilateral polygon does not need to be a convex polygon: it could be concave or even self-intersecting.
In geometry, the incenter of a triangle is a triangle center, a point defined for any triangle in a way that is independent of the triangle's placement or scale. The incenter may be equivalently defined as the point where the internal angle bisectors of the triangle cross, as the point equidistant from the triangle's sides, as the junction point of the medial axis and innermost point of the grassfire transform of the triangle, and as the center point of the inscribed circle of the triangle.
In Euclidean geometry, a regular polygon is a polygon that is direct equiangular and equilateral. Regular polygons may be either convex, star or skew. In the limit, a sequence of regular polygons with an increasing number of sides approximates a circle, if the perimeter or area is fixed, or a regular apeirogon, if the edge length is fixed.
A ternary plot, ternary graph, triangle plot, simplex plot, or Gibbs triangle is a barycentric plot on three variables which sum to a constant. It graphically depicts the ratios of the three variables as positions in an equilateral triangle. It is used in physical chemistry, petrology, mineralogy, metallurgy, and other physical sciences to show the compositions of systems composed of three species. Ternary plots are tools for analyzing compositional data in the three-dimensional case.
In Euclidean geometry, the Fermat point of a triangle, also called the Torricelli point or Fermat–Torricelli point, is a point such that the sum of the three distances from each of the three vertices of the triangle to the point is the smallest possible or, equivalently, the geometric median of the three vertices. It is so named because this problem was first raised by Fermat in a private letter to Evangelista Torricelli, who solved it.
Pompeiu's theorem is a result of plane geometry, discovered by the Romanian mathematician Dimitrie Pompeiu. The theorem is simple, but not classical. It states the following:
In Euclidean geometry, the Erdős–Mordell inequality states that for any triangle ABC and point P inside ABC, the sum of the distances from P to the sides is less than or equal to half of the sum of the distances from P to the vertices. It is named after Paul Erdős and Louis Mordell. Erdős (1935) posed the problem of proving the inequality; a proof was provided two years later by Mordell and D. F. Barrow. This solution was however not very elementary. Subsequent simpler proofs were then found by Kazarinoff (1957), Bankoff (1958), and Alsina & Nelsen (2007).
In geometry, the Steiner inellipse, midpoint inellipse, or midpoint ellipse of a triangle is the unique ellipse inscribed in the triangle and tangent to the sides at their midpoints. It is an example of an inellipse. By comparison the inscribed circle and Mandart inellipse of a triangle are other inconics that are tangent to the sides, but not at the midpoints unless the triangle is equilateral. The Steiner inellipse is attributed by Dörrie to Jakob Steiner, and a proof of its uniqueness is given by Dan Kalman.
In geometry, a pentagon is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°.
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem or Pythagoras' theorem is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry between the three sides of a right triangle. It states that the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares on the other two sides.
