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Are There Any Really Hard Problems in Geometry

There are many genuinely hard problems in geometry. Hard problems can be defined as those that students cannot solve in a minute or problems that require complex reasoning with many hypotheses or theorems. Really hard geometry problems often involve properties like collinearity, concurrence, or producing a constant result. Famous difficult theorems include Steiner-Jehnmus, Carnot, Liquel, and Brocard. The hardest problems are often simple to state but extremely challenging to prove, like Erquhart-Chasles theorem. Developing the skills to engage with and solve really hard geometry problems allows students to enjoy the beauty and problem-solving nature of the subject.

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252 views

Are There Any Really Hard Problems in Geometry

There are many genuinely hard problems in geometry. Hard problems can be defined as those that students cannot solve in a minute or problems that require complex reasoning with many hypotheses or theorems. Really hard geometry problems often involve properties like collinearity, concurrence, or producing a constant result. Famous difficult theorems include Steiner-Jehnmus, Carnot, Liquel, and Brocard. The hardest problems are often simple to state but extremely challenging to prove, like Erquhart-Chasles theorem. Developing the skills to engage with and solve really hard geometry problems allows students to enjoy the beauty and problem-solving nature of the subject.

Uploaded by

Alexander Bennett
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Are There Any Really Hard Problems in Geometry?

MMC Conference of Workshops January !" #$ Michael %eyton keyton&imsa'edu ((()'imsa'edu*+keyton

Are There Any Really Hard Problems in Geometry?


We can start this talk by answering the question in the negative, in which case, this becomes one of the shortest talks of all-time. However, we know the answer to this question is obviously in the affirmative. But by what do we mean "hard problems" and "really hard problems" !s the "really" really necessary "ne thing that will not happen ehre today is that ! will not supply you with proofs of any of the problems ! pose. #eometry is too en$oyable to be a spectator sport unless you have already proven the theorem, then you can sit back and en$oy alternate solutions. %o to begin, we can define a "Hard &roblem 'H&(" as one ! cannot work in a minute) students define one which cannot be worked in *+ seconds. %o if you are like me, there are "H&s" for every student, ! hope. ,he first H& my students encounter is '*( ,heorem *- &rove .very segment has a midpoint. !n this case, Hard becomes Hard because they do not perceive why such an obvious statement needs to be proven. ,his is when ! begin with the postulates and omit any statement equivalent to association of the real numbers and points on a line. /ow it not only becomes Hard, it becomes !mpossible. !f you delay this until later, then the first H& is the '0( 1ross Bar theorem- &rove- !f & is in the interior of 2/#, then ray '/, &( intersects segment '2, #(. 3ollowing this we encounter'4( ,heorem- !f a median of a triangle is an angle bisector, then it is an altitude and the triangle is isosceles. /ow you might ob$ect that these are fundamental aspects of the course and not problems. !n some regard ! agree. However, they are the prelude for the fun and games to come. "ften some of the most difficult problems are those at the beginning of a sub$ect for there are so few tools that have been developed. ! have seen students for which proving '5( ,heorem- ,he bisector of the verte6 angle of an isosceles triangle is a median. !s a H&, for they are struggling with what it means to prove and are not fully ready to en$oy the proof scenario. "nce sufficient tools are developed then the games begin and we can e6pose students to the beauties of geometry. Beyond the te6tbooks, ! suggest any books listed at the end as resources of challenging problems. ! also use a variety of *7th century books and early 0+th century ones which are difficult to obtain on the used market. ,he ma$or questions are what makes a problem difficult and why should we be interested in them 8eyton 0

!!. What makes a problem hard ,he most obvious e6planation is comple6ity. 3or instance, a problem that has a large number of hypotheses or requires a multitude of theorems to approach it is usually difficult. 3or students one of the ma$or struggling aspects of geometry is the overwhelming number of lemmata to move to the higher 'en$oyable-frustrating( levels. 2 ma$or component of the problem solving nature of mathematics is two characteristics of intelligence 9 storage of new information and retrieval. 2nother higher level is synthesis and generali:ation. 2lmost any problem involving collinearity or concurrence goes into this category. ,heorem- 'Wallace'%impson( ;ine 3or a point on the circumcircle of a triangle, the feet of the perpendiculars from the point to the lines containing the sides of the triangle are collinear.

,heorem '! first found in a newspaper, sent in by a #."< '#eometrically .6cited "ld <an( 3or some reason, some elderly men continue to be intrigued by geometry, usually in a negative manner, trying to prove every angle can be trisected, etc.( #iven a triangle, the points of intersection of the bisectors of the base angles intersect the bisectors of the e6terior angles of the base angles are collinear with the verte6 opposite the base. ,heorem- ,he medians of a triangle are concurrent. =,he other classic centers are easy to prove compared to this one.> ,heorem- ,he circumcenter, the centroid, and the orthocenter of a triangle are collinear and the ratio of the distance from the orthocenter to the centroid is twice the distance from the centroid to the circumcenter. !n these, there are essentially two approaches to take- 'a( show the third point is on the line determined by two of the points, or 'b( show the line though two points contains the third point. .ven though these are equivalent, they are different. !n the case of the last problem it is easy to show to use two of the points, create the third point and then show it 8eyton 4

is the desired point. ?se the circumcenter '"( and the centroid '#(, e6tend to an unknown point that is collinear so that the distance is twice that of "#) now prove this point is the orthocenter 'H(. ,heorem- =Butterfly ,heorem> #iven two chords through the midpoint of a fi6ed chord of a circle, the segments $oining the endpoints of the chords intersect the line containing the fi6ed chord in points bisected by the midpoint. =/ote- there are two such pairs of lines.> ,heorems that are tantali:ing and often difficult to prove are those that propose a constant result. ,heorem- !f & is on the base of an isosceles triangle, then the sum of the distances from & to the sides of the triangle is a constant. ,heorem- 3or a fi6ed point in the interior 'e6terior( of a circle, the product of the lengths of the sub-segments of a chord 'secant( through the point is constant. ,heorem- ;et #, the centroid of @2B1, be the center of a circle with radius r. ,he sum of the squares of the distances from a point on this circle to the vertices of the triangle is constant. ,heorem- =.6tension of Wallace> #iven a point & on a circle concentric with the circumcircle of @2B1, the area of the triangles formed by the feet of the pro$ections of & on the lines containing the sides of the triangle is constant.

,he more intriguing class of difficult problems is those that are simple to state. "ne of the most famous is %teiner-;ehmus. ,heorem- =%teiner-;ehmus> !f two angles bisectors of a triangle are congruent, then the triangle is isosceles. "thers would include the theorems of 1arnot, <iquel, and Brocard. ,heorem- =1arnot> %uppose a circle intersects a triangle ABC in D points 1, 2, E, /, ", A1 BE C" A, C/ B2 F and , so that A-1-2-B, B-E-/-C, and C-"-,-A, then 1B EC "A ,C /B 2A ,heorem- =<iquel> 3or points !, ?, and ; on the sides of @<G. so that <-!-G, G-?-., and .-;-<, then the circles '!, G, ?(, '?, ., ;(, and ';, <, !( are concurrent. ,heorem- =Brocard> 3or @2B1, there e6ists points < and / so that <2B <B1 <12 and /21 /1B /B2. 8eyton 5

suu r sur suu r suu r ,heorem- =&appus> !f 2-1-. and B-H-3 and 2B H.F& , 1B 3.FG , and suu r suu r 21 H3FE , then &, G, and E are collinear.

2nd its e6tension to a circle. suu r sur suu r suu r ,heorem- =&ascal> !f 2B1H.3 are D points on a circle, then 2B H.F& , 1B 3.FG , suu r suu r and 21 H3FE , then &, G, and E are collinear. ,hese all pale in comparison to the following result, which might be as elementary as possible and as difficult beyond belief. suu r suu r ,heorem- =?rquhart-1hasles> !f 2-B-1 and 2-H-. such that .B H1F& and 2BIB& F 2H IH&, then 21 I 1& F 2. I .&. 'see- http-JJmathworld.wolfram.comJ?rquharts,heorem.html(

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2nd in conclusion, one of my discoveries. 80++D- ,heorem- ;et A be the midpoint between the orthocenter and the centroid 'the other trisection point between the orthocenter and the circumcenter( of @2B1. 1onstruct the circle with A as center and radius point the orthocenter. ;et & be a point on this circle. ;et 2*, B*, and 1* be the symmetric points of & with respect to 2, B, and 1. ,he sum of the powers of 2*, B*, and 1* with respect to the circumcircle of @2B1 is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the sides of @2B1. =,his was a generali:ation of a problem given in 1ourt.> =,his can be further generali:ed for any circle with center A.>

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%ources for 1hallenging &roblems in #eometry '2( 2ref, <. and Wernick, W., Problems and Solutions in Euclidean Geometry, Hover, 0+*+. '1( 1ourt, /. 2., College Geometry, Hover, 0++L. '3( 3. #.-<., Exercises de Gomtrie, Macques #abay, *77*. '#( #usev, N, ;itvinenko, N., and <ordkovich, 2., Solving Problems in Geometry, <ir &ublishers <oscow, *7OO. 'H( Horblit, <., Plane Geometry Problems with Solutions, Barnes P /oble, *7KL. 'M( Mohnson, Eoger, Advanced Euclidean Geometry, Hover, 0++L. '&o( &osamentier, 2. and %alkind, 1, Challenging Problems in Geometry, Hover, *77D. '&r( &rasalov, N., Problems in Plane and Solid Geometry, http-JJmath:ine.comJ0+**J**Jproblems-in-plane-and-solid-geometry-by-viktor-prasolovJ

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