All Questions
Tagged with plane-geometry euclidean-geometry
104 questions
90
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Does this property characterize straight lines in the plane?
Take a plane curve $\gamma$ and a disk of fixed radius whose center moves along $\gamma$. Suppose that $\gamma$ always cuts the disk in two simply connected regions of equal area. Is it true that $\...
- 4,459
60
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Does this geometry theorem have a name?
Start with a circle and draw two tangent circles inside. The (black) inner tangent lines to the smaller circles intersect the large circle. The (red) lines through these intersection points are ...
- 509
34
votes
4
answers
2k
views
About the ratio of the areas of a convex pentagon and the inner pentagon made by the five diagonals
Question : Letting $S{^\prime}$ be the area of the inner pentagon made by the five diagonals of a convex pentagon whose area is $S$, then find the max of $\frac{S^\prime}{S}$.
...
- 4,757
32
votes
8
answers
4k
views
Can Morley's theorem be generalized?
Morley's theorem states that in any triangle, the three points of intersection of the adjacent angle trisectors form an equilateral triangle.
In a talk some years ago, David Rusin made the provocative ...
- 82.7k
32
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Term for "uncheckable constructions"
Is there a term for "uncheckable geometric constructions"?
Say, Angle Trisection and Doubling the Cube are checkable;
i.e., if the answer is given one can do finite Compass-and-straightedge ...
- 45k
25
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Are there infinitely many "generalized triangle vertices"?
Briefly, I'd like to know whether there are infinitely many "generalized triangle centers" which - like the orthocenter - are indistinguishable from a vertex of the original triangle. This ...
- 21.2k
24
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Tetrahedron insphere iteration
I know that iterating the following incircle construction approaches an equilateral triangle in the limit:
Starting with any triangle $T$, one forms $T'$ by connecting ...
- 151k
22
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Aperiodic monotile without reflections?
The recently discovered amazing aperiodic monotile (or "einstein") of David Smith, Joseph Samuel Myers, Craig S. Kaplan, and Chaim Goodman-Strauss tiles the plane only if reflections of the ...
- 82.7k
19
votes
1
answer
819
views
All saddles in the unit ball have area $<2\pi$?
Let $M$ be the saddle surface in $\mathbb R^3$ defined by $x^2-y^2+z=0$. For any $r\geq 0$ and $(x_0,y_0,z_0)\in\mathbb R^3$, let $rM+(x_0,y_0,z_0)$ denotes the surface obtained by scaling $M$ by $r$ ...
- 525
18
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Definition of area
I am looking for an attractive, but rigorous definition of area;
say in Euclidean plane. Probably there is no short definition. It is OK to make it even longer, but can it be built from useful parts ...
- 45k
17
votes
1
answer
822
views
Is the perimeter of an ellipse with integer axes irrational?
Let $Q$ be an ellipse with integer-length axes $a$ and $b$:
$$ \frac{x^2}{a^2} + \frac{y^2}{b^2} = 1 \;.$$
The perimeter of $Q$ is given by the complete elliptic integral of the 2nd kind, $E(\;)$:
$4 ...
- 151k
16
votes
0
answers
391
views
Is "Escherian metamorphosis" always possible?
$\DeclareMathOperator\int{int}\DeclareMathOperator\diam{diam}\DeclareMathOperator\area{area}\DeclareMathOperator\cl{cl}\DeclareMathOperator\ran{ran}\DeclareMathOperator\dom{dom}$This is a tweaked ...
- 21.2k
15
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Do two new special points in any triangle exist?
There are some special points in any triangle, as Fermat point, symmedian point, incenter, Morley center, et cetera.
Let $P$ be a point on the plane, $PA$, $PB$, $PC$ meet $BC$, $CA$, $AB$ at $...
- 1,776
15
votes
1
answer
838
views
Ratio of circumscribed/inscribed $(n{-}1)$-gons
As a discrete analog of the MO question,
"Löwner-John Ellipsoid: incribed and circumscribed,"
I've been wondering what might be the maximum ratio
of this quantity?
Let $P$ be a convex ...
- 151k
14
votes
1
answer
3k
views
spiral of Theodorus
A long time ago when I was in college I read about making a spiral out of right triangles with sides 1 and $\sqrt{N}$. (A google search seems to indicate that this is called the Spiral of Theodorus.)
...
- 663
14
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Dao's theorem on six circumcenters associated with a cyclic hexagon
This questions from Ngo Quang Duong's paper
In 2013, O. T. Dao published without proof a theorem with title Another seven circles theorem in Cut the Knot, a free site for popular expositionsof many ...
- 1,044
11
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Decomposing the plane into intervals
I posted this on Stack Exchange and got a lot of interest, but no answer.
A recent Missouri State problem stated that it is easy to decompose the plane into half-open intervals and asked us to do so ...
- 356
11
votes
1
answer
480
views
Yau's problem: Construct a triangle given a side, an angle, and an angle bisector
In Shing-Tung Yau's autobiography The Shape of a Life, he mentions a problem that he came up with as a teenager.
Suppose you know the length of one side of a triangle, one angle, and the length of ...
- 82.7k
11
votes
1
answer
712
views
Polygons uniquely inducing arrangements
A beautiful, relatively recent result is that,
Every simple arrangement $\cal{A}$ of $n$ lines in the plane is induced by a simple $n$-gon $P$.
In a simple arrangement, every pair of lines intersect ...
- 151k
10
votes
1
answer
231
views
2-layer tilings with a center-of-gravity constraint
I've encountered a tiling problem with a physical constraint that
might place it outside the literature on tiling.
"Tiling" is a bit of a misnomer; it is a special type of cover.
All the tiles are ...
- 151k
10
votes
1
answer
377
views
Reorienting a ladder among $\mathbb{Z}^2$ poles
Imagine an object, which I'll call a ladder $\cal{L}$, a "racetrack" shape
composed of a rectangle of length $L$ capped at either end by
semicircles of radius $r$; so it is $L+2r$ tip-to-tip.
View ...
- 151k
10
votes
1
answer
551
views
Formula for "cointersection" of three circles?
I am working on the problem of finding "rational" dodecahedrons, and I have run across an interesting subproblem: How do you tell if three circles have a common intersection point?
...
- 371
10
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Interpolating points with minimum curvature constraint
I have $n$ points $p_i$ strictly interior to a rectangle $R$,
and I would like to connect them with a curve $C$ whose curvature is as low as possible.
Let $\kappa_\max(C)$ be the sharpest (largest ...
- 151k
9
votes
2
answers
595
views
Strengthened version of Isoperimetric inequality with n-polygon
Let $ABCD$ be a convex quadrilateral with the lengths $a, b, c, d$ and the area $S$. The main result in our paper equivalent to:
\begin{equation} a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2 \ge 4S + \frac{\sqrt{3}-1}{\sqrt{3}}\...
- 1,776
8
votes
4
answers
530
views
Inside-out polygonal dissections
A dissection of a polygon $P$
is a partition of $P$ into a finite number of pieces, which can then be rearranged
(via planar translations and rotations) and joined (without overlap) to form a new ...
- 151k
8
votes
2
answers
371
views
Are angles between points enough to decide the realizability?
Let n points in the plane be given whose coordinates we don't know.
Assume, however, that for any triple of the points we know the angle.
Question: Can we decide whether the n points are realizable ...
- 245
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Quadrature of the Lune
What is a good reference for the following result which I believe is proved by Tchebotarev.
There are exactly 5 types of Lunes that are squarable. (Hippocrates produced three and then two more were ...
- 575
8
votes
0
answers
205
views
Which subsets of the plane are similar to all their affine images?
A parabola P in the plane has the nice property that the image of P under any affine transformation is similar to P itself.
Which other subsets of the plane have this property?
I wondered aloud about ...
- 2,896
8
votes
0
answers
161
views
What is a geometric construction corresponding to elliptic curve addition for Sharygin-isosceles triangles?
NB: this is a cross-posting from from MSE after two months with no progress (despite a bounty). It's totally elementary but I think it's cute.
Consider the elliptic curve defined by the cubic:
$$
a^...
- 1,444
8
votes
0
answers
200
views
Ricocheting pinball-like shot: Complexity?
Suppose one has $n$ perfect two-sided mirror segments in the plane $\mathbb{R}^2$.
The segments are open, excluding their endpoints.
They are disjoint as closed segments, i.e., no pair shares an ...
- 151k
7
votes
3
answers
400
views
Maximizing the area of a region involving triangles
I thought of a question while making up an exercise sheet for high school students, and posted it on MathStackExchange but did not receive an answer (the original post is here), so I thought perhaps ...
- 26.9k
7
votes
2
answers
359
views
Closed curve whose neighborhood is as large as possible
Let $C$ be a closed curve in the plane and let $N_\epsilon(C)$ be an $\epsilon$-neighborhood of $C$, like this:
(ignore the fact that the "curve" is polygonal in this picture, I drew it in MATLAB)
...
- 4,049
7
votes
2
answers
805
views
Continuing generalization of the Simson line
In 2014, I found a nice result in plane geometry, the result is a generalization of the Simson line theorem, and there are nine proofs for this result were published in [1]-[7]. Continuing, I find a ...
- 1,044
6
votes
1
answer
373
views
Symmetric black-hole curves
Is there a curve $C$ that connects $(0,1)$ to $(a,0)$ for some $a>0$, and, when reflected
to $C'$ in the $x$-axis, the shape $S=C \cup C'$ has the property that each horizontal
light ray entering $...
- 151k
6
votes
1
answer
767
views
Using mirrors to make a non-convex polygon visible from a fixed interior point
Take a point $A$ inside a non-convex polygon $P$. Is it always possible to place a finite set of mirrors given by straight segments (not necessarily along the boundary of $P$, any position inside $P$ ...
- 17.9k
6
votes
1
answer
224
views
Necessary and sufficient condition for tangential polygon to be cyclic
Can you prove or disprove the following claim?
Claim. Let $A_1,A_2, \ldots ,A_n$ be the vertices of an $n$-sided tangential polygon and let $B_1,B_2, \ldots ,B_n$ be the contact points of the ...
- 2,661
6
votes
1
answer
676
views
Does an origin-centered ellipse in the plane intersect each $L^p$-circle at most 8 times?
The question is in the title: Let $E$ be an origin-centered ellipse in ${\mathbb R}^2$ and let $S$ be an "$L^p$-circle": $S = \{(x,y) : |x|^p + |y|^p = \text{const}\}$, where $1 \leq p \leq \infty$. ...
- 6,694
6
votes
1
answer
311
views
Lemoine-Lozada circles
I made some rookie attempt to define the 4th Lemoine circle recently. The alternative name for this circle was suggested yesterday. Further investigation revealed a family of circles associated with ...
- 445
6
votes
1
answer
715
views
Elementary problem about triangles inside a convex polygon
Let P be a convex polygon with area A(P), and to each side of P, attach the largest area triangle possible that lies entirely within P. Must the sum S(P) of the areas of these triangles always satisfy ...
- 1,318
6
votes
1
answer
435
views
On the aperiodic monotile
One of the more mind-boggling aspects of the Penrose tiles is that there are uncountably many distinct tilings of the plane, but every tiling contains every finite region that appears in another ...
- 4,898
6
votes
4
answers
691
views
Triangle angle bisectors, trisectors, quadrisectors, …
With the triangle
angle bisector theorem
and
Morley's trisector theorem
as background ,
are there any pretty theorems known for triangle $n$-sectors,
$n > 3$?
For example, angle quadrisectors?
The ...
- 151k
6
votes
1
answer
295
views
Does any real projective plane incidence theorem follow from axioms?
Is it known whether any projective geometry statement that holds true in the real projective plane (equivalently, can be deduced from Hilbert axioms) follows from the standard projective axiomatics?
...
- 308
6
votes
1
answer
255
views
Inscribing one regular polygon in another
Say that one polygon $P$ is inscribed in another one $Q$, if $P$ is contained entirely in (the interior and boundary of) $Q$ and every vertex of $P$ lies on an edge of $Q$. It's clear that a regular $...
- 161
6
votes
0
answers
121
views
How many equilaterals have vertices intersections of angle trisectors of a triangle?
The celebrated Morley’s theorem ensures that the interior trisectors, proximal to sides respectively, meet at vertices of an equilateral.
In the paper Trisectors like Bisectors with Equilaterals ...
6
votes
0
answers
320
views
Does this plane geometry theorem have a name (well-known)?
Consider three circles $(O_1)$, $(O_2)$, $(O_3)$. Denote the homothetic center of $\{$$(O_1)$, $(O_2)$$\}$ by $A$, the homothetic center of $\{$$(O_2)$, $(O_3)$$\}$ by $B$. Let $C$, $D$ be two points ...
- 1,776
5
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Is this a new result about hexagon?
Let a hexagon $AB'CA'BC'$ let $AB' \cap A'B=C''$, $BC' \cap B'C = A''$, $CA' \cap C'A = B''$ then three conditions as follows equivalent:
Three lines $AA', BB', CC'$ are concurrent (let the point of ...
- 1,776
5
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Distance between point inside a triangle and its vertices [closed]
How to determine the distance between an arbitrary point inside a triangle and its vertices if side lengths are given. Is there any correlation between these distances or their sum and the lengths of ...
5
votes
1
answer
207
views
Soddy-type relation for Steiner chains
For Steiner $n$-chains of circles of radii $r_1,\dots,r_n$ tangent to an inner circle of radius $r_-$ and an outer circle of radius $r_+$, is there a Soddy-type relation between the $n+2$ quantities $...
- 19.7k
5
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Finding an invisible circle by drawing another line
A friend of mine taught me the following question. He said he found it on a book a few years ago. Though I've tried to solve it, I'm facing difficulty.
Question: You know on a plane there is an ...
- 4,757
5
votes
0
answers
235
views
Arrangement of points, lines, and planes
Is it possible to construct a finite nontrivial arrangement of points, lines, and planes in 3-dimensional Euclidean space with the following properties?
every line is incident with four points and ...
- 2,773