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Menelaus

The document proves that points P, Q, and R, where tangents to the circumcircle of triangle ABC meet the lines BC, AC, and BA respectively, are collinear. It utilizes Menelaus's Theorem and the Power of a Point to establish relationships between the segments formed by these points and the triangle's sides. The proof concludes that the product of specific ratios is negative, confirming the collinearity of P, Q, and R.

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georgiagiraffe1107
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97 views1 page

Menelaus

The document proves that points P, Q, and R, where tangents to the circumcircle of triangle ABC meet the lines BC, AC, and BA respectively, are collinear. It utilizes Menelaus's Theorem and the Power of a Point to establish relationships between the segments formed by these points and the triangle's sides. The proof concludes that the product of specific ratios is negative, confirming the collinearity of P, Q, and R.

Uploaded by

georgiagiraffe1107
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Tangents to the circumcircle of scalene triangle ABC at A, B, and C meet lines BC, AC, BA at P , Q, R,

respectively. Prove that P , Q, and R are collinear.

R
A B

We note that since we want to prove collinearity, and we can find side ratios in circles using tools like Power of a
Point and similar triangles, we think about using Menelaus’s Theorem to solve this problem.

We note that all three ratios RB , P C , and CQ


AR BP
QA are negative - this is because P, Q, and R must lie on the tangent
lines of the circle, which lie entirely outside the circle, while triangle ABC is entirely inside the circle, so P, Q, and
R must be on the extensions of the sides of ABC. Therefore, the product RB · P C · CQ
AR BP
QA is negative. With that out
of the way, for the remainder of the problem, we use undirected lengths when dealing with side ratios unless stated
otherwise.
AP BP
By Power of a Point on point P, we have AP 2 = BP · CP, or CP = AP . Since ∠AP C is shared, we have
AP
△AP C ∼ △BP A. This gives us CP = AB BP AB
AC and AP = AC , so

 2
BP AP BP AB
= · = .
CP CP AP AC
CQ
Similarly, we have AQ = ( BC 2
AB ) and
AR
BR
AC 2
= ( BC ) . Therefore, we have

 2
BP CQ AR AB BC AC
· · = · · = 1.
P C QA RB AC AB BC
We found earlier that this product was negative when we used directed length ratios; therefore (with directed
lengths), we have

BP CQ AR
· · = −1.
P C QA RB
By Menalus’s Theorem on △ABC, this means that P, Q, and R are collinear, as desired.

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