A projective analogue of Napoleon's and Varignon's theorems

DOI10.1007/S00283-017-9746-6MaRDI QIDQ1649560zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Quang-Nhat Le

Publication date 6 July 2018

Published in The Mathematical Intelligencer (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.04513

zbMATH Keywords

Napoleon' theorempolygon iterationprojective geometryVarignon's theorem

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Configuration theorems in linear incidence geometry (51A20) Elementary problems in Euclidean geometries (51M04) Geometric constructions in real or complex geometry (51M15)

Abstract: What do Napoleon's and Varignon's theorems have in common? We claim that they both are examples of immediately regularizing natural polygon iterations in different planar geometries and present a new and analogous result in projective geometry.

Review text

The following classical results are well-known: -- Napoleon's theorem: For any triangle, the centers of the equilateral triangles erected on the outside of its edges form an equilateral triangle. -- Varignon's theorem: The midpoints of the edges of any quadrilateral form a parallelogram. The author of this paper shows that both theorems are in fact particular examples of a type of maps defined on the space of polygons and satisfying certain properties. Using this approach, the author also finds a new and analogous result in projective geometry. As it seems natural, the paper is closed with some open questions inviting the reader to explore the higher-dimensional setting or the case of non-Euclidean geometries.

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Cites work

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Cited in

(12)

• A theorem on the generalized canonical projective vectors
• On special projections of varieties: Epitome to a theorem of Beniamino Segre
• Varignon's theorem for octahedra and cross-polytopes
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3874114 (Why is no real title available?)
• The Projective Antecedent of the Three Reflection Theorem
• A formal proof of the projective Eisenbud-Evans-Storch theorem
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2167044 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3992316 (Why is no real title available?)
• Some Applications of Beilinson's Theorem to Projective Spaces and Quadrics
• Variations on a Theorem of Varignon
• Les théorèmes projectifs de Sturm et leur circulation
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 7741893 (Why is no real title available?)

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