09/04/2019 Trisecting the Area of a Triangle

Trisecting the Area of a Triangle

Introduction.

The task is to divide a given triangle into three regions

of equal area, using line segments and points. There are
several different problems that can be posed.

Here are four:

Problem 1. If a
triangle ABC is
given and a random
point P on the
triangle is selected,
construct two lines
through P to divide
the triangle into
three regions with equal area. At the right is
ONE example but because P can be anywhere
on the perimeter of the triangle there are
several cases to consider. We will enumerate 7
of them below.

Problem 2. Given a triangle ABC, find a point

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D such that line

segments AD, BD, and
CD trisect the area of
the triangle into three
regions with equal
areas. Define D and
prove that the triangle is divided into three
regions of equal area. Show a construction for
finding D.

Problem 3. Given a
triangle ABC, and
given a point E. such
that line segments AE,
BE, and CE trisect the
area of the triangle into
three regions with equal areas. Show a
construction and prove that it divides the
triangle into three regions of equal area.

Problem 4. Given a
triangle ABC.
Construct two line
segments parallel to
the base BC to divide
the triangle into three
regions with equal
areas. Prove that the construction divides the
triangle into three regions of equal area.

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Problem 1.

If there is given a point P on the side of the triangle, then there

are seven ways to construct three equal areas with lines drawn
from P. The sequence below shows the seven patterns with P
moving from right to left.

Click here to see a GSP animation of this problem.

In the first case, P is the base vertex on the right hand side of the
triangle, and in the seventh case, P is the base vertex on the left
hand side of the triangle. The construction in each case involves
trisecting the segment on the opposite side of the triangle and
connecting the vertex by segments to the two trisection points.
Since we know at least five ways to construct the trisection of a
line, the construction task for these two cases can be assumed.

Much needs to be discovered in the other cases.

For the third and the fifth cases, P is located such that a segment
drawn to the opposite vertex determines a triangle that is one-
third the area of the original triangle. This means P is located at
a trisection point on the base of the triangle. But then the
remaining two-thirds of the original triangle must be divided
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into two equal areas by a line from P through the opposite side,
making two triangles. These triangles have the same height, so
the point must be the midpoint of that side. That is, if P is a
trisection point of the base, then the original triangle is divided
into three equal areas by lines from P to the vertex and from P
to the midpoint of the side along the two-thirds section.

This leaves three constructions to be determined, the second,

fourth, and sixth in the sequence above. These correspond to the
cases where P is neither a vertex nor a trisection point on the
base. In the second case, P is in the right third of the base; in the
fourth case, P is in the center third of the base; and in the sixth
case, P is in the left third of the base. Clearly, the constructions
for the second and sixth cases will be virtually the same.

Construction Outline

Each case could be constructed by using the result of a slightly

different construction. That is,

Given a triangle ABC with a given point on the base

that is neither a vertex nor a trisection point, construct a
line through P that cuts off a triangle one third the area
of ABC.

Note that if we know this construction, we could use it to

construct the shaded triangles in cases two, four, and six. Case
four would be finished. Cases two and six could be completed
by deteriming another triangle with the same length base
opposite of P.

Construction of a Triangle with one-third of the area and

base AP

For triangle ABC, construct the altitude and find its trisection
points. Again we know at least five different constructions for
trisecting a line segment. The point P is given on base AC and is
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neither a vertex nor a trisection

point of AC.

Determine which end of the base if

nearest to point P. Construct a
perpendiclar to AC at that end.
Construct a parallel line to AC
through the nearest trisection point
on the altitude and construct a
perpendicular segment from P to
this line at Q.

The areas of triangle AQC is one

third the area of triangle ABC.

Extend line AQ to intersect with

the perpendicular to C at point D.

Triangle APD has the same area as

triangle AQC because AP/AC =
PQ/ CD and therefore (AP)(CD) =
(PQ)(AC). Each side of this latter
equation is twice the area of the respective triangles.

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Now any point on a line parallel to

AC through D could be the vertex
of a triangle with base AP that has
area one-third the area triangle
ABC. The intersection point with
side AB will determine a vertex E
of the desired triangle. Draw line
PE.

To be continued . . . Your task is to complete the constructions for all of the different cases in Problems 1, 2,
3, 4

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