Illustrated · 1 min
Pascal's Hexagon Theorem says that if you have a hexagon that lies on a conic, the intersections of the three pairs of opposite sides are collinear. Formally, if and , then are collinear.
The proof of this fact follows quickly using cross ratios. Let . It is sufficient to show that
Note that
so as desired.
Note that in this theorem, the hexagon does not have to be convex. In fact, it does not even have to be a hexagon! Consider this hexagon...
If we draw the intersections...
The theorem is indeed still true. are collinear!
Furthermore, the points do not even have to be distinct! Pascal's still gives nontrivial results if one, two, or even three points are repeated. For example, with points , we would have that are collinear, where represent the tangents to the circumcircle of at points respectively.
This particular case gives the following result, called the Lemoine Line, which has an otherwise nontrivial proof:
Note to writers: Someone please add the intersections between the tangents from and , and , and , and draw a line between these points.