Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T07:51:38.731Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

New proofs of certain characterisations of cyclic circumscriptible quadrilaterals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2019

Sadi Abu-Saymeh
Affiliation:
2271, Barrow Cliffe Drive, Concord NC28027USA e-mail: ssaymeh@yahoo.com
Mowaffaq Hajja
Affiliation:
P. O. Box 388 (Al-Husun), 21510 Irbid, Jordan e-mail: mowhajja@yahoo.com

Extract

A convex quadrilateral ABCD is called circumscriptible or tangential if it admits an incircle, i.e. a circle that touches all of its sides. A typical circumscriptible quadrilateral is depicted in Figure 1, where the incircle of ABCD touches the sides at, , Bʹ, and . Notice that labellings such as AAʹ = ADʹ = a are justified by the fact that two tangents from a point to a circle have equal lengths (a, b, c and d in Figure 1 are called tangent lengths). This simple fact also implies that if x, y, and z are the angles shown in the figure, then x = y. In fact, if AD and BC are parallel, then x = y = 90°. Otherwise, the extensions of AD and BC would meet, say at Q, with QDʹ. Hence x = y. Thus x = y in all cases, and sin x = sin y = sin z. We shall use this observation freely. Also we shall denote the vertices and vertex angles of a polygon by the same letters, but after making sure that no confusion may arise.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© Mathematical Association 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Josefsson, M., More characterizations of tangential quadrilaterals, Forum Geom. 11 (2011) pp. 6582.Google Scholar
Yiu, P., Notes on Euclidean Geometry, Florida Atlantic University Lecture Notes (1998).Google Scholar
Tan, K., Some proofs of a theorem on quadrilaterals, Math. Mag. 35 (1962) pp. 289294.10.1080/0025570X.1962.11975363CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hajja, M., A condition for a circumscriptible quadrilateral to be cyclic, Forum Geom. 8 (2008) pp 103106.Google Scholar
Hajja, M., Kaliman, Z. and Kadum, V., A condition that a tangential quadrilateral is also a chordal one, Math. Commun. 12 (1) (2007) pp. 3352.Google Scholar
Alsina, C. and Nelson, R. B., Charming proofs: a journey into elegant mathematics, The Dolciani Mathematical Expositions, No. 42, MAA, Washington DC (2010).Google Scholar
Josefsson, M., Calculations concerning the tangent lengths and tangency chords in a tangential quadrilateral, Forum Geom. 10 (2010) pp. 119130.Google Scholar
Silvester, J. R., Geometry, ancient and modern, Oxford University Press (2001).Google Scholar
Byer, O., Lazebnik, F. and Smeltzer, D. L., Methods for Euclidean Geometry, Classroom Resource Materials, MAA, Washington DC, (2010).Google Scholar
Isaacs, I. M., Geometry for College Students, AMS, Providence, Rhode Island (2001).Google Scholar