Illustrated · 1 min

The Simson Line

Given a triangle ABC and a point P on its circumcircle, the three closest points to P on lines AB, AC, and BC are collinear.

Proof: To prove this, we angle chase. It suffices to show that: ∠AEF=∠CED\angle AEF = \angle CED

Since: ∠PEA=∠PFA=90∘\angle PEA = \angle PFA = 90^\circ We get that quadrilateral PAFEPAFE is cyclic. Similarly, we have that quadrilaterals PDBFPDBF and PDCEPDCE are cyclic. Because of the cyclic quadrilaterals PDBFPDBF and PABCPABC, we have: ∠DPF=∠ABC=∠APC\angle DPF = \angle ABC = \angle APC We can subtract ∠FPC\angle FPC from both sides to get: ∠CPD=∠APF\angle CPD = \angle APF Since PDCEPDCE is cyclic, we have: ∠CPD=∠CED\angle CPD = \angle CED Since PAFEPAFE is cyclic, we have: ∠APF=∠AEF\angle APF = \angle AEF So, using the transitive property, we have: ∠AEF=∠CED\angle AEF = \angle CED And we are done.

Type a concept, like “slope” or “photosynthesis”.

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