Four Triangles, One Circle
What Is It About?
A Mathematical Droodle


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Explanation

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Copyright © 1996-2018 Alexander Bogomolny

Let H be the orthocenter of ΔABC. Then A is the orthocenter of ΔBCH, and similarly for B and C. This observation leads to a curious fact that all four triangles share the 9-point circle. In ΔABC the 9-point circle passes through the midpoints of the sides, the feet of the altitudes and the Euler points, i.e., the points midway from the orthocenter to the vertices.

Now, by Feuerbach's theorem, the 9-point circle is tangent to the incircle of a triangle and its excircles. It follows, that in a configuration of four points A, B, C, H and four triangles ABC, ABH, BCH, CAH, the same circle (the 9-point circle of all four triangles) is tangent, in general, to sixteen circles:


This applet requires Sun's Java VM 2 which your browser may perceive as a popup. Which it is not. If you want to see the applet work, visit Sun's website at https://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp, download and install Java VM and enjoy the applet.


What if applet does not run?

Nine Point Circle

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Copyright © 1996-2018 Alexander Bogomolny

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