Concurrence of tetrahedral cevians associated with triangle centers (Q2175728)

The centroid of an \(n\)-simplex, \(n \geq 1\), is the center of mass of equal masses placed at its vertices. Archimedes is credited with proving that the centroid of a line segment is its midpoint, and that the centroid of a triangle is the intersection of the line segments that join the vertices of the triangle to the centroids (i.e., the midpoints) of the opposite sides. Using simple vector algebra, one can easily prove that the centroid of a tetrahedron is the intersection of the line segments that join the vertices of the tetrahedron to the centroids of the opposite faces [\textit{N. Altshiller-Court}, Modern pure solid geometry. 2nd ed. Bronx, NY: Chelsea Publishing Company (1964; Zbl 0126.16603)]. A similar statement holds for \(n\)-simplices for all \(n \geq 2\) [\textit{M. B. Balk} and \textit{V. G. Boltyanskij}, Geometry of masses. (Geometriya mass) (Russian). Moscow: Nauka (1987; Zbl 0661.70001); \textit{B. Carter}, ``The \(i\)-centroid of an \(n\)-simplex. Am. Math. Mon. 68, No. 9, 914--917 (1961; \url{doi:10.2307/2311705}); \textit{M. Hajja} and \textit{P. Walker}, J. Geom. Graph. 8, No. 1, 23--32 (2004; Zbl 1075.51504)]. It is natural to wonder whether this nice inductive property of the centroid also holds for other centers. This paper addresses the question whether this nice inductive property of the center of mass also holds for other centers. The authors prove that the center of mass is the only center that has this property and they investigate in detail the situation for the other well-known centers, namely, the Gergonne center, the Nagel center, the Lemoine center, the incenter, the orthocenter, the Fermat-Torricelli center, and the circumcenter. Some questions for further research are raised.