Three Similar Triangles (an Interactive Gizmo)

Three Similar Triangles: What Is It About?
A Mathematical Droodle

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.

Three Similar Triangles

The applet suggests a generalization of a statement about three isosceles triangles:

Suppose A, B, C are arbitrary points on a straight line and X is a point not on the line. Construct similar and similarly oriented triangles ABX and BCY. If triangle XYZ is similar to triangles ABX and BCY but with a different orientation then Z is always collinear with A, B, and C!

(This generalization and its simple synthetic proof have been suggested by Nathan Bowler.)

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?

Proof

First of all, by construction,

XBY = 180° -

ABX -

CBY =

XZY.

The quadrilateral BXYZ is therefore cyclic. From here it follows that

YBZ =

YXZ =

YBC,

so that indeed B, C, and Z are collinear.

Nathan has also suggested a framework which underlies the origins of the above proof.

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Three Similar Triangles: What Is It About? A Mathematical Droodle

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.