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ABC-triangles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2024

Jonny Griffiths*
Affiliation:
11 Great Western Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1GA e-mail: [email protected]
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If we talk about the centre of a triangle, what might we be referring to? Any triangle has many different points that could regarded as its centre; in fact, Encyclopedia of Triangle Centres lists over 70 000 possibilities. Three of the most famous centres, that every triangle will possess (although they may coincide), are the incentre (where the three angle bisectors meet), the centroid (where the three medians meet) and the orthocentre (where the three altitudes meet). Proofs that these centres are well-defined and exist for every triangle are simple and satisfying, good examples of reasoning (if we are teachers) for our students. Proving the three altitudes of a triangle share a point using the scalar product of vectors is a wonderful demonstration of the power of this idea.

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© The Authors, 2024 Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Mathematical Association