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Euler Line Construction

The Euler line is a straight line that passes through several important points determined from any non-equilateral triangle, including the orthocenter, circumcenter, centroid, and center of the nine-point circle. Euler showed that in any triangle, the orthocenter, circumcenter and centroid are collinear and lie on the Euler line. The nine-point center also lies on the Euler line. The incenter generally does not lie on the Euler line, except for isosceles triangles where the Euler line coincides with the symmetry axis.

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452 views

Euler Line Construction

The Euler line is a straight line that passes through several important points determined from any non-equilateral triangle, including the orthocenter, circumcenter, centroid, and center of the nine-point circle. Euler showed that in any triangle, the orthocenter, circumcenter and centroid are collinear and lie on the Euler line. The nine-point center also lies on the Euler line. The incenter generally does not lie on the Euler line, except for isosceles triangles where the Euler line coincides with the symmetry axis.

Uploaded by

neiljain421
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Euler line

Euler's line (red) is a straight line through the


centroid (orange), orthocenter (blue), circumcenter
(green) and center of the nine-point circle (red).
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In geometry, the Euler line, named after Leonhard
Euler (US/lr/, OY-lr or UK /l/, OY-l), is
a line determined from anytriangle that is
not equilateral. It passes through several important
points determined from the triangle, including
theorthocenter, the circumcenter, the centroid,
the Exeter pointand the center of the nine-point
circle of the triangle.
[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Triangle centers
2 Equation
3 Parametric representation
4 Slope
5 Lengths of segments
6 Right triangle
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Triangle centers [edit]
Euler showed in 1765 that in any triangle, the orthocenter, circumcenter and centroid are collinear.
[2]
This
property is also true for another triangle center, the nine-point center, although it had not been defined in
Euler's time. In equilateral triangles, these four points coincide, but in any other triangle they are all distinct
from each other, and the Euler line is determined by any two of them.
Other notable points that lie on the Euler line include the de Longchamps point, theSchiffler point, and
the Exeter point.
[1]
However, the incenter generally does not lie on the Euler line;
[3]
it is on the Euler line
only for isosceles triangles, for which the Euler line coincides with the symmetry axis of the triangle and
contains all triangle centers.
Equation [edit]
Let A, B, C denote the vertex angles of the reference triangle, and let x : y : z be a variable point in trilinear
coordinates; then an equation for the Euler line is
Parametric representation [edit]
Another way to represent the Euler line is in terms of a parameter t. Starting with the circumcenter (with
trilinear coordinates ) and the orthocenter (with trilinears
, every point on the Euler
line, except the orthocenter, is given by the trilinear coordinates
formed as a linear combination of the trilinears of these two points, for some t.
For example:
The centroid has trilinears
, corresponding to
the parameter value .
The nine-point center has trilinears
,
corresponding to the parameter value .
The De Longchamps point has trilinears
, corresponding to
the parameter value .
Slope [edit]
In a Cartesian coordinate system, denote the slopes of the sides of a triangle as and and
denote the slope of its Euler line as . Then these slopes are related according to
[4]:Lemma 1
Thus the slope of the Euler line (if finite) is expressible in terms of the slopes of the sides as
Moreover, the Euler line is parallel to an acute triangle's side BC if and only if
[4]:p.173

Lengths of segments [edit]
On the Euler line the centroid G is between the circumcenter O and the orthocenterH and is twice as far
from the orthocenter as it is from the circumcenter:
[5]:p.102
The center of the nine-point circle lies along the Euler line midway between the orthocenter and the
circumcenter.
[1]
Thus the Euler line could be repositioned on a number line with the circumcenter O at the
location 0, the centroid G at 2t, the nine-point center at 3t, and the orthocenter H at 6t for some scale
factor t.
Furthermore, the squared distance between the centroid and the circumcenter along the Euler line is less
than the squared circumradius R
2
by an amount equal to one-ninth the sum of the squares of the side
lengths a, b, and c:
[5]:p.71
Right triangle [edit]
In a right triangle, the Euler line contains the median on the hypotenusethat is, it goes through both the
right-angled vertex and the midpoint of the side opposite that vertex. This is because the right triangle's
orthocenter, the intersection of itsaltitudes, falls on the right-angled vertex while its circumcenter, the
intersection of itsperpendicular bisectors of sides, falls on the midpoint of the hypotenuse.
See also [edit]
Gossard perspector
Central line
References [edit]
1. ^
a

b

c
Kimberling, Clark (1998). "Triangle centers and central triangles". Congressus Numerantium 129: ixxv,
1295.
2. ^ Euler, Leonhard (1767). "Solutio facilis problematum quorundam geometricorum difficillimorum" . Novi
Commentarii academiae scientarum imperialis Petropolitanae11: 103123. E325. Reprinted in Opera Omnia,
ser. I, vol. XXVI, pp. 139157, Societas Scientiarum Naturalium Helveticae, Lausanne, 1953, MR 0061061 .
3. ^ Schattschneider, Doris; King, James (1997). Geometry Turned On: Dynamic Software in Learning,
Teaching, and Research . The Mathematical Association of America. pp. 34. ISBN 978-0883850992.
4. ^
a

b
Wladimir G. Boskoff, Laurentiu Homentcovschi, and Bogdan D. Suceava, "Gossards Perspector and
Projective Consequences", Forum Geometricorum, Volume 13 (2013), 169184. [1]
5. ^
a

b
Altshiller-Court, Nathan, College Geometry, Dover Publications, 2007 (orig. Barnes & Noble 1952).
External links [edit]
Altitudes and the Euler Line and Euler Line and 9-Point Circle at cut-the-knot
Triangle centers on the Euler line , by Clark Kimberling.
An interactive applet showing several triangle centers that lies on the Euler line .
Weisstein, Eric W., "Euler Line ", MathWorld.
"Euler Line" and "Non-Euclidean Triangle Continuum" at the Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Nine-point conic and Euler line generalization and A further Euler line generalization at Dynamic
Geometry Sketches
Categories: Triangle geometry

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