Tangents and Diagonals in Cyclic Quadrilateral: What Is This About?
A Mathematical Droodle
Explanation
Copyright © 1996-2009 Alexander Bogomolny
Tangents and Diagonals in Cyclic Quadrilateral
The applet suggests the following theorem:
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Assume that in a cyclic quadrilateral ABCD the tangents to the circumcircle at A and C intersect in S, while those at B and D intersect in T. Then T is incident to the diagonal AC iff S is incident to the diagonal BD.
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The statement is a rephrase of La Hire's theorem:
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If point A lies on the polar of point B, then point B lies on the polar of A.
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Indeed, AC and BD serves as the polars of S and T, respectively.
But the statement could be redressed in a different manner altogether. As we know, the symmedian at C in triangle BDC and the symmedian at A in triangle ABD both pass through the point T of intersection of the tangents at B and D. The two symmedians coincide iff the diagonal AC and the tangents at B and D are concurrent, i.e., iff T is incident to AC. Then La Hire's theorem tells us that the symmedians of triangles BDC and ABD coincide iff the symmedians of triangles ABC and ADC coincide.
Poles and Polars
Copyright © 1996-2009 Alexander Bogomolny
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