Line diving 2 triangles in a plane in equal halves by area











up vote
2
down vote

favorite
3












Can you prove or disprove that for any 2 triangles in a plane, there will always be a line passing through them both which divide each of them into 2 halves of equal area? If said line exists, how can we find it?










share|cite|improve this question






















  • Triangles do not overlap, right?
    – Narasimham
    Nov 15 at 9:12






  • 2




    This is an application in dimension $2$ of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_sandwich_theorem
    – Robert Z
    Nov 15 at 9:20












  • Very similar question: math.stackexchange.com/questions/1452917/…
    – Robert Z
    Nov 15 at 9:28












  • @Robert Z It is more than very similar...
    – Jean Marie
    Nov 15 at 21:52















up vote
2
down vote

favorite
3












Can you prove or disprove that for any 2 triangles in a plane, there will always be a line passing through them both which divide each of them into 2 halves of equal area? If said line exists, how can we find it?










share|cite|improve this question






















  • Triangles do not overlap, right?
    – Narasimham
    Nov 15 at 9:12






  • 2




    This is an application in dimension $2$ of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_sandwich_theorem
    – Robert Z
    Nov 15 at 9:20












  • Very similar question: math.stackexchange.com/questions/1452917/…
    – Robert Z
    Nov 15 at 9:28












  • @Robert Z It is more than very similar...
    – Jean Marie
    Nov 15 at 21:52













up vote
2
down vote

favorite
3









up vote
2
down vote

favorite
3






3





Can you prove or disprove that for any 2 triangles in a plane, there will always be a line passing through them both which divide each of them into 2 halves of equal area? If said line exists, how can we find it?










share|cite|improve this question













Can you prove or disprove that for any 2 triangles in a plane, there will always be a line passing through them both which divide each of them into 2 halves of equal area? If said line exists, how can we find it?







geometry






share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question











share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question










asked Nov 15 at 9:06









Aashish Rathi

142




142












  • Triangles do not overlap, right?
    – Narasimham
    Nov 15 at 9:12






  • 2




    This is an application in dimension $2$ of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_sandwich_theorem
    – Robert Z
    Nov 15 at 9:20












  • Very similar question: math.stackexchange.com/questions/1452917/…
    – Robert Z
    Nov 15 at 9:28












  • @Robert Z It is more than very similar...
    – Jean Marie
    Nov 15 at 21:52


















  • Triangles do not overlap, right?
    – Narasimham
    Nov 15 at 9:12






  • 2




    This is an application in dimension $2$ of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_sandwich_theorem
    – Robert Z
    Nov 15 at 9:20












  • Very similar question: math.stackexchange.com/questions/1452917/…
    – Robert Z
    Nov 15 at 9:28












  • @Robert Z It is more than very similar...
    – Jean Marie
    Nov 15 at 21:52
















Triangles do not overlap, right?
– Narasimham
Nov 15 at 9:12




Triangles do not overlap, right?
– Narasimham
Nov 15 at 9:12




2




2




This is an application in dimension $2$ of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_sandwich_theorem
– Robert Z
Nov 15 at 9:20






This is an application in dimension $2$ of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_sandwich_theorem
– Robert Z
Nov 15 at 9:20














Very similar question: math.stackexchange.com/questions/1452917/…
– Robert Z
Nov 15 at 9:28






Very similar question: math.stackexchange.com/questions/1452917/…
– Robert Z
Nov 15 at 9:28














@Robert Z It is more than very similar...
– Jean Marie
Nov 15 at 21:52




@Robert Z It is more than very similar...
– Jean Marie
Nov 15 at 21:52










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
1
down vote













Of course one can make appeal to the ham-sandwich-theorem. But for two triangles it should be possible to obtain, at least in principle, an explicit solution.



We first have to describe the set of lines dividing a single triangle into two parts of equal area. To this end consider the triangle $T$ with vertices $(0,0)$, $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. A line cutting off the origin together with half the area of this triangle has an equation of the form
$${xover u}+{yover v}=1 ,$$
whereby $u,vin>]0,1[>$ and $uv={1over2}$. The family of these lines can therefore be described in the form
$$2v^2x+y-v=0,qquad0<v<1 .$$
The envelope of this family turns out to be an arc $gamma$ of the hyperbola $xy={1over8}$, whereby the endpoints of this arc are the midpoints $bigl({1over2},{1over4}bigr)$ and $bigl({1over4},{1over2}bigr)$ of the medians through the vertices $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. Of course these medians themselves are tangent to the arc $gamma$ in these points, since they are halving the area of $T$. By affinity it is not necessary to do a similar computation for cutting off another vertex of $T$: In all we obtain three arcs of hyperbolas that form a "hyperbolic triangle" with cusps in the midpoints of the medians of $T$. It is possible to rotate a line $ell$ smoothly $180^circ$ along these three arcs so that $ell$ touches (at least) one of the arcs at all times.



enter image description here



If we now are given two arbitrary triangles $T_1$, $T_2$ then each of them has its own "hyperbolic triangle" $H_i$. The rotating $ell$ of $H_1$ will then at a certain moment be tangent to one of the arcs of $H_2$ (one would have to check this). In this position the line $ell$ halves both triangle areas simultaneously.






share|cite|improve this answer























    Your Answer





    StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
    return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
    StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
    StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
    });
    });
    }, "mathjax-editing");

    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "69"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    convertImagesToLinks: true,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: 10,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });














    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f2999447%2fline-diving-2-triangles-in-a-plane-in-equal-halves-by-area%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes








    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes








    up vote
    1
    down vote













    Of course one can make appeal to the ham-sandwich-theorem. But for two triangles it should be possible to obtain, at least in principle, an explicit solution.



    We first have to describe the set of lines dividing a single triangle into two parts of equal area. To this end consider the triangle $T$ with vertices $(0,0)$, $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. A line cutting off the origin together with half the area of this triangle has an equation of the form
    $${xover u}+{yover v}=1 ,$$
    whereby $u,vin>]0,1[>$ and $uv={1over2}$. The family of these lines can therefore be described in the form
    $$2v^2x+y-v=0,qquad0<v<1 .$$
    The envelope of this family turns out to be an arc $gamma$ of the hyperbola $xy={1over8}$, whereby the endpoints of this arc are the midpoints $bigl({1over2},{1over4}bigr)$ and $bigl({1over4},{1over2}bigr)$ of the medians through the vertices $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. Of course these medians themselves are tangent to the arc $gamma$ in these points, since they are halving the area of $T$. By affinity it is not necessary to do a similar computation for cutting off another vertex of $T$: In all we obtain three arcs of hyperbolas that form a "hyperbolic triangle" with cusps in the midpoints of the medians of $T$. It is possible to rotate a line $ell$ smoothly $180^circ$ along these three arcs so that $ell$ touches (at least) one of the arcs at all times.



    enter image description here



    If we now are given two arbitrary triangles $T_1$, $T_2$ then each of them has its own "hyperbolic triangle" $H_i$. The rotating $ell$ of $H_1$ will then at a certain moment be tangent to one of the arcs of $H_2$ (one would have to check this). In this position the line $ell$ halves both triangle areas simultaneously.






    share|cite|improve this answer



























      up vote
      1
      down vote













      Of course one can make appeal to the ham-sandwich-theorem. But for two triangles it should be possible to obtain, at least in principle, an explicit solution.



      We first have to describe the set of lines dividing a single triangle into two parts of equal area. To this end consider the triangle $T$ with vertices $(0,0)$, $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. A line cutting off the origin together with half the area of this triangle has an equation of the form
      $${xover u}+{yover v}=1 ,$$
      whereby $u,vin>]0,1[>$ and $uv={1over2}$. The family of these lines can therefore be described in the form
      $$2v^2x+y-v=0,qquad0<v<1 .$$
      The envelope of this family turns out to be an arc $gamma$ of the hyperbola $xy={1over8}$, whereby the endpoints of this arc are the midpoints $bigl({1over2},{1over4}bigr)$ and $bigl({1over4},{1over2}bigr)$ of the medians through the vertices $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. Of course these medians themselves are tangent to the arc $gamma$ in these points, since they are halving the area of $T$. By affinity it is not necessary to do a similar computation for cutting off another vertex of $T$: In all we obtain three arcs of hyperbolas that form a "hyperbolic triangle" with cusps in the midpoints of the medians of $T$. It is possible to rotate a line $ell$ smoothly $180^circ$ along these three arcs so that $ell$ touches (at least) one of the arcs at all times.



      enter image description here



      If we now are given two arbitrary triangles $T_1$, $T_2$ then each of them has its own "hyperbolic triangle" $H_i$. The rotating $ell$ of $H_1$ will then at a certain moment be tangent to one of the arcs of $H_2$ (one would have to check this). In this position the line $ell$ halves both triangle areas simultaneously.






      share|cite|improve this answer

























        up vote
        1
        down vote










        up vote
        1
        down vote









        Of course one can make appeal to the ham-sandwich-theorem. But for two triangles it should be possible to obtain, at least in principle, an explicit solution.



        We first have to describe the set of lines dividing a single triangle into two parts of equal area. To this end consider the triangle $T$ with vertices $(0,0)$, $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. A line cutting off the origin together with half the area of this triangle has an equation of the form
        $${xover u}+{yover v}=1 ,$$
        whereby $u,vin>]0,1[>$ and $uv={1over2}$. The family of these lines can therefore be described in the form
        $$2v^2x+y-v=0,qquad0<v<1 .$$
        The envelope of this family turns out to be an arc $gamma$ of the hyperbola $xy={1over8}$, whereby the endpoints of this arc are the midpoints $bigl({1over2},{1over4}bigr)$ and $bigl({1over4},{1over2}bigr)$ of the medians through the vertices $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. Of course these medians themselves are tangent to the arc $gamma$ in these points, since they are halving the area of $T$. By affinity it is not necessary to do a similar computation for cutting off another vertex of $T$: In all we obtain three arcs of hyperbolas that form a "hyperbolic triangle" with cusps in the midpoints of the medians of $T$. It is possible to rotate a line $ell$ smoothly $180^circ$ along these three arcs so that $ell$ touches (at least) one of the arcs at all times.



        enter image description here



        If we now are given two arbitrary triangles $T_1$, $T_2$ then each of them has its own "hyperbolic triangle" $H_i$. The rotating $ell$ of $H_1$ will then at a certain moment be tangent to one of the arcs of $H_2$ (one would have to check this). In this position the line $ell$ halves both triangle areas simultaneously.






        share|cite|improve this answer














        Of course one can make appeal to the ham-sandwich-theorem. But for two triangles it should be possible to obtain, at least in principle, an explicit solution.



        We first have to describe the set of lines dividing a single triangle into two parts of equal area. To this end consider the triangle $T$ with vertices $(0,0)$, $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. A line cutting off the origin together with half the area of this triangle has an equation of the form
        $${xover u}+{yover v}=1 ,$$
        whereby $u,vin>]0,1[>$ and $uv={1over2}$. The family of these lines can therefore be described in the form
        $$2v^2x+y-v=0,qquad0<v<1 .$$
        The envelope of this family turns out to be an arc $gamma$ of the hyperbola $xy={1over8}$, whereby the endpoints of this arc are the midpoints $bigl({1over2},{1over4}bigr)$ and $bigl({1over4},{1over2}bigr)$ of the medians through the vertices $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. Of course these medians themselves are tangent to the arc $gamma$ in these points, since they are halving the area of $T$. By affinity it is not necessary to do a similar computation for cutting off another vertex of $T$: In all we obtain three arcs of hyperbolas that form a "hyperbolic triangle" with cusps in the midpoints of the medians of $T$. It is possible to rotate a line $ell$ smoothly $180^circ$ along these three arcs so that $ell$ touches (at least) one of the arcs at all times.



        enter image description here



        If we now are given two arbitrary triangles $T_1$, $T_2$ then each of them has its own "hyperbolic triangle" $H_i$. The rotating $ell$ of $H_1$ will then at a certain moment be tangent to one of the arcs of $H_2$ (one would have to check this). In this position the line $ell$ halves both triangle areas simultaneously.







        share|cite|improve this answer














        share|cite|improve this answer



        share|cite|improve this answer








        edited Nov 17 at 14:27

























        answered Nov 15 at 11:04









        Christian Blatter

        171k7111325




        171k7111325






























            draft saved

            draft discarded




















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





            Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


            Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f2999447%2fline-diving-2-triangles-in-a-plane-in-equal-halves-by-area%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            How to change which sound is reproduced for terminal bell?

            Can I use Tabulator js library in my java Spring + Thymeleaf project?

            Title Spacing in Bjornstrup Chapter, Removing Chapter Number From Contents