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Consider a triangle ABC, M the midpoint of BC and a line rotating around M, intersecting AB and AC at points K and L respectively. We then draw the lines BL and CK and their intersection point is N. Find the locus of point N.

I have noticed that the locus is a line from A and parallel to the side BC but I don't know how to prove it.

(Geometry is not my strong suit and I can recall only taking two college classes in the subject).

Any help?

Pradeep Suny
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2 Answers2

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If you wish to avoid classical geometry, you can use vector geometry for questions of this type.

Take the origin at $A$ and let $B,C$ have position vectors $b,c$ respectively. Let $L,K$ have position vectors $tc,sb$ respectively. $M$ is on the line $LK$ and so $$tc-\frac{b+c}{2}=\lambda \left(\frac{b+c}{2}-sb \right).$$

Equating coefficients of $b$ and $c$ gives the position vectors of $L,K$ as respectively $$ \frac{\lambda+1}{2}c,\frac{\lambda+1}{2\lambda}b.$$

By the ratio theorem any point on $BL$ has position vector $$rb+(1-r)\frac{\lambda+1}{2}c$$ for some $r$. Similarly, any point on $CK$ has position vector $$sc+(1-s)\frac{\lambda+1}{2\lambda}b$$ for some $s$. The point $N$ is where $BL$ and $CK$ intersect and equating the coefficients of $b$ and $c$ in the two expressions gives the position vector of $N$ as $$\frac{\lambda+1}{\lambda-1}(b-c).$$ Therefore the locus of $N$ is indeed a line throught the origin $A$ parallel to $BC$.

  • Dear S. Dolan, thank you very much for your solution. I would appreciate a few more details. – Pradeep Suny Dec 16 '19 at 17:43
  • Fine - where in the proof are you unsure? –  Dec 16 '19 at 17:46
  • It's not that I am unsure - I don't think I understand the first equation starting by $tc-$ and same for point N. – Pradeep Suny Dec 16 '19 at 17:55
  • Are you happy with the fact that $tc-(b+c)/2$ is the vector from $M$ to $L$? (If not then you need a different type of proof). –  Dec 16 '19 at 17:58
  • Thanks for both solutions. One last question: What is ratio theorem? I don't think I know it :( – Pradeep Suny Dec 16 '19 at 18:29
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    Let two points have position vectors $a$ and $b$. The position vector of any point on the line through these two points can be written as $ra+(1-r)b$ for some parameter $r$. Note that $a$ itself is given by $r=1$, the mid-point is given by $r=1/2$, etc. –  Dec 16 '19 at 18:33
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A more geometrical answer

Let the line through $M$ intersect $AB$ extended at $K$. Let the line $KC$ intersect the line through $A$ which is parallel to $BC$ at $N'$. (We will prove $N=N'$.)

Apply a shear, fixing $A$ and $N'$ and making $AK=KN'$. After the shear, $KML$ is the line of symmetry of triangle $AKN'$ and so $N=N'$. Therefore this was true before the shear!