A Geometry Expressions Activity

C
Triangle Areas
Skills:
F a
• Area formulas b 1
• Similar triangles 3 E
1
• Geometry theorem proving
3
A D 1 B
Midpoint Triangle
3
Draw a triangle, and constrain its side lengths to be c
a,b,c. Now join the midpoints of the sides to create a a+b+c · a+b-c · a-b+c · -a+b+c
smaller triangle. ⇒
12
What is the area of the smaller triangle?
Figure 2: Triangle formed by points 1/3 of the way
How does this relate to the area of the original along the sides
triangle?
What proportion of the total area is the area of
triangle ADC?
C
What proportion of the area of triangle ADC is the
area of triangle ADF?
a
b What proportion of the total area is the area of ADF?
E Can you prove the relationship between the area of
F
DEF and the area of ABC?

A D B Generalization
Now what if instead of ½ or 1/3, the vertices of the
c
small triangle are proportion p along the sides?
a+b+c · a+b-c · a-b+c · -a+b+c
⇒
16 C
p
F
Figure 1: The area of the triangle formed by joining a
the midpoints of the sides of the original triangle b

Can you prove this relationship?

E
[Hint: look at the triangles ADF, CEF, BDE and p
think about similar triangles.]
A D p B
Triangle formed by points a fixed
c
proportion along the sides
Now let’s examine the case where instead of D,E,F
being half way along their respective sides, they are a Figure 3: Triangle formed by points proportion p
third of the way. along each side
Instead of using the midpoint construction to create What is the relationship between the area of the small
D, you should place it on the segment and then use triangle and that of the original triangle?
the Proportional constraint with a value 1/3.
Can you verify that this gives the same answer as we
What is the area of this triangle? got above for the special cases where p=1/2 and
p=1/3?
How does it relate to the area of the original triangle?
Can you think of any other special cases you could
use for verification?

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 A Geometry Expressions Activity
What value of p would put D on top of A? In which
case, where would E and F be? And what would the C
area of DEF be?
What value of p would put D on top of B? In which 1
F a
case, where would E and F be? And what would the 3 J
b
area of DEF be?
E 1
Can you prove the relationship between the area of 3
DEF and that of ABC? K
L
[Hint: try using the same method as you used for the A D B
case where p=1/3] 1
What value for p would make the area of the smaller 3
triangle half the area of the bigger triangle? c

a+b+c · a+b-c · a-b+c · -a+b+c

Further Generalization ⇒
28
We can generalize this result even more. Instead of
D E and F each being the same proportion along the
sides, make each one a different proportion. Figure 5: Triangle formed by intersections of the
lines joining the vertices to the trisectors of the
opposite sides.
C
Can you prove geometrically that the area of JKL is
the same as the sum of the areas of CFJ, ADL and
a BEK?
b r E
Can you prove the relationship between the area of
F q JKL and that of ABC?
[Hint: this is harder…use similar triangles and don’t
be afraid to experiment with measuring in Geometry
A D p B Expressions.]

c More Generalization
How could you generalize this result?
Figure 4: Triangle formed by points proportion p, q Can you find a specific configuration which yields a
and r along the sides triangle half the area of the original?
What is the relationship between the area of DEF and
the area of ABC?

A Similar Problem
Here is a problem with a similar flavor. Instead of
creating the triangle DEF, join each of D,E, and F to
the opposite vertex of the original triangle (fig. 5).
Now create the triangle JKL from the intersections of
these lines.
What is the relationship between the area of JKL and
the area of the original triangle?

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