8 The Distances from a Point to the Vertices of a Triangle

8.1
In Chapter 6, the distances from a point to the sides of a triangle were used to dene the simple and useful system of trilinear coordinates. Two things made this possible: (1) there is an obvious way to attribute a sign, or direction, to distances; and (2) any two of the distances from a point to the sides of a triangle determine the third one unambiguously. The distances 1 , 2 , and 3 from a point P to the vertices of ABC do not have these properties. If P A and P B are given, then, as an intersection point of two circles, P can be either real or imaginary, and in the rst case, we nd two values for P C . There will be a relation between P A = d1 , P B = d2 , and P C = d3 and the sides a, b, and c, which we expect to be quadratic. There are dierent methods for determining this relation. We choose the following one (Fig. 8.1), where P is chosen inside ABC and BP C = 1 , CP A = 2 , and A

3 2 1 B
Fig. 8.1.

AP B = 3 . We have 1 + 2 + 3 = 2 and therefore cos(1 + 2 + 3 ) = 1, whence it follows from trigonometric addition formulas that 2 cos 1 cos 2 cos 3 cos2 1 cos2 2 cos2 3 + 1 = 0 . (8.1)

O. Bottema, Topics in Elementary Geometry, DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-78131-0 8, c Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008

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8 The Distances from a Point to the Vertices of a Triangle

2 a2 + d2 2 + d3 2d2 d3

Since cos 1 = and so on, we nd

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 (a2 + d2 2 + d3 )(b + d3 + d1 )(c + d1 + d2 ) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 (a2 + d2 2 + d3 ) d1 (b + d3 + d1 ) d2 (c + d1 + d2 ) d3 2 2 + 4d2 1 d2 d3 = 0 ,

(8.2) a relation that remains valid when P lies outside the triangle. Relation (8.2) is of degree three in the d2 i , which is higher than we expected. However, it 2 2 2 4 2 turns out that the terms of degree three in the d2 i , such as d1 d2 d3 and d1 d2 , cancel out. This also follows from the fact that the left-hand side of (8.2) is identically zero for a = b = c = 0. After some computation, (8.2) can nally be written as
2 2 2 2 2 2 a2 d2 1 (d1 + d2 + d3 a + b + c ) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 + b2 d2 2 (d1 d2 + d3 + a b + c ) + c d3 (d1 + d2 d3 + a + b c ) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 (a2 d2 2 d3 + b d3 d1 + c d1 d2 + a b c ) = 0 . (8.3)

This complicated formula with 22 terms is in great contrast to the relation ad1 + bd2 + cd3 = 2[ABC ] we found for the distances to the sides. Let us give a couple of examples. In an equilateral triangle with side a, we have d4 i
2 2 d2 j dk a 4 d2 i +a = 0.

If in (8.3) we let d1 = d2 = d3 = d, we obtain d2 = (a2 b2 c2 /16[ABC ]2 )R2 .

8.2
Let us describe a problem related to (8.3), which we will come back to in Chapter 23. Consider a triangle ABC and three positive numbers p, q , and r. We would like to know whether there exist points T for which TA : TB : TC = p : q : r . (8.4)

We can show as follows that the locus of the points T for which T B : T C = q : r is a circle, called an Apollonius circle. If T is one of the points that we are looking for, the interior and exterior angle bisectors of the vertex angle T meet the base BC at the points S1 and S2 for which BS : SC = q : r, which

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35

implies that S1 and S2 are xed points. As T S1 and T S2 are perpendicular to each other, the desired locus is the circle with diameter S1 S2 . It follows that the points that satisfy (8.4) are the intersection points of two, and therefore three, Apollonius circles. We can consequently expect two, one, or zero real solutions. To determine the criteria for this, we return to (8.3). Let T A = d1 = pt and consequently d2 = qt and d3 = rt. Substitution in (8.3) gives the following quadratic equation in t2 : U t4 + V t 2 + W = 0 , where U = a2 p 4 + a2 p 2 q 2 + a2 p 2 r 2 b 2 q 4 + b 2 q 2 r 2 + b 2 q 2 p 2 c2 r 4 + c2 r 2 p 2 + c2 r 2 q 2 a 2 q 2 r 2 b 2 r 2 p 2 c2 p 2 q 2 = a 2 p 4 b 2 q 4 c2 r 4 + 2bcq 2 r2 cos + 2car2 p2 cos + 2abp2 q 2 cos , V = 2abc(ap2 cos + bq 2 cos + cr2 cos ) , W = a 2 b 2 c2 . Let D be the discriminant D = V 2 4U W divided by 4a2 b2 c2 . We nd D = a2 p4 cos2 + b2 q 4 cos2 + c2 r4 cos2 + 2bcq 2 r2 cos cos + 2car2 p2 cos cos + 2abp2 q 2 cos cos a 2 p 4 b 2 q 4 c2 r 4 + 2bcq 2 r2 cos + 2car2 p2 cos + 2abp2 q 2 cos . As 1 cos2 = sin2 and so on, and cos + cos cos = sin sin and so on, this gives D = a2 p4 sin2 b2 q 4 sin2 c2 r4 sin2 + 2bcq 2 r2 sin sin + 2car2 p2 sin sin + 2abp2 q 2 sin sin , or, nally, as sin = a/2R and so on: D = 1 (a4 p4 b4 q 4 c4 r4 + 2b2 c2 q 2 r2 + 2c2 a2 r2 p2 + 2a2 b2 p2 q 2 ) . (8.7) 4R 2 (8.6) (8.5)

If we recall that three positive numbers u, v , and w are the sides of a triangle only if u4 v 4 w4 + 2v 2 w2 + 2w2 u2 + 2u2 v 2 0, where equality holds for a degenerate triangle, it follows that the roots t2 of (8.5) are real only if there exists a triangle with sides ap, bq , and cr. Let us continue the discussion of (8.5) by determining the signs of U and V . The rst equality in (8.6) implies that 2U = (a2 + b2 + c2 )(q 2 r2 )2 + (a2 b2 + c2 )(r2 p2 )2 + (a2 + b2 c2 )(p2 q 2 )2 . (8.8)

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8 The Distances from a Point to the Vertices of a Triangle

If triangle ABC is not obtuse, U is negative. If ABC is obtuse, let us say in C , then c2 > a2 + b2 and only the third term of (8.8) is negative. Let us set q 2 r2 = K and r2 p2 = L. Then (p2 q 2 )2 = (K + L)2 and 2U = (a2 + b2 + c2 )K 2 + (a2 b2 + c2 )L2 + (a2 + b2 c2 )(K + L)2 = 2b2 K 2 + 2(a2 + b2 c2 )KL + 2a2 L2 , which, as c < a + b, is greater than 2b2 K 2 4abKL + 2a2 L2 = 2(bK aL)2 . U is therefore negative, or zero if p = q = r. As far as V is concerned, its coecient is clearly positive for an angle that is not obtuse. If C is obtuse, the third term is negative. If the condition under which the roots t2 are real is satised, then rc < pa + qb and V > p2 a2 (a2 + b2 + c2 ) + q 2 b2 (a2 b2 + c2 ) + (pa + qb)2 (a2 + b2 c2 ) = 2p2 a2 b2 + 2pqab(a2 + b2 c2 ) + 2q 2 a2 b2 , and therefore, as c < a + b, V 2p2 a2 b2 4pqa2 b2 + 2q 2 a2 b2 = 2a2 b2 (p q )2 0 . It follows from U < 0, V > 0, W < 0, and D > 0 that both roots t2 of (8.5) are positive, giving two positive roots for t. We have shown, using a dicult but elementary method requiring much computation, that there exist two real points Ti satisfying (8.4) if and only if ap, bq , and cr satisfy the triangle inequalities.

8.3
By what we have just seen, the distances r1 , r2 , and r3 from a point P to the vertices of a triangle ABC are unsuitable for use as a coordinate system. Their ratios cannot be used either: they correspond to two, one, or zero real points. They are no true rival for the trilinear or barycentric coordinates. However, the elaborate computations of this chapter have not been completely in vain. There are questions of geometric type for which they can be used. Let us give two examples. A rst example: do there exist, in the plane of triangle ABC , points for which the distances to the vertices are inversely proportional to the opposite sides? It immediately follows from p = a1 , q = b1 , and r = c1 with ap = bq = cr that for every triangle there exist two real points I1 and I2 with the desired property. They are called isodynamic points of the triangle.

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37

A second example: are there points for which the distances are proportional to the opposite sides? The answer is that there are two such real points Q1 and Q2 only if a2 , b2 , and c2 satisfy the triangle inequalities, that is, if the triangle is acute. A completely dierent application is the following. The condition under which two circles with radii R1 and R2 and distance d between their cen2 2 ters meet perpendicularly, is that R1 + R2 = d2 . If R2 = 0, the relation 2 2 becomes d = R1 . That is, the center of a point circle which meets a true circle perpendicularly lies on that circles circumference. 2 2 We apply this to the point circles 2 1 = 0, 2 = 0, and 3 = 0 that have respective centers A, B , and C , and therefore all meet the circumcircle with center O perpendicularly. It follows that every circle of the family determined by the equation 2 2 (8.9) 1 2 1 + 2 2 + 3 3 = 0 also meets perpendicularly. This family also contains lines, circles with innite radius. Such a circle must pass through O, for which 1 = 2 = 3 . It follows that the lines passing through O are given by (8.9) with the condition 1 + 2 + 3 = 0 . The median through A satises m2 a = nd the following -coordinates for G:
1 2 2b 1 2 2 +1 2 c 4 a . As GA =

(8.10)
2 3 ma ,

we

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 : 2 : 3 = (2b + 2c a ) : (2c + 2a b ) : (2a + 2b c ) .

(8.11)

The line given by (8.9) passes through G if the following relation holds in addition to (8.10): (2b2 + 2c2 a2 )1 + (2c2 + 2a2 b2 )2 + (2a2 + 2b2 c2 )3 = 0 . (8.12)

The ratios between 1 , 2 , and 3 follow from (8.10) and (8.12). We conclude that the equation of the Euler line in -coordinates is
2 2 2 2 2 2 (b2 c2 )2 1 + (c a )2 + (a b )3 = 0 .

(8.13)

2 2 2 2 2 Let us give one application: 2 1 : 2 : 3 = a : b : c satises (8.13). It follows that the points denoted above by Q1 and Q2 , which are real in any acute triangle, lie on the Euler line. From (8.13) it follows, as expected, that the Euler line is not well dened in an equilateral triangle.