A Fine Use of Transformations

Rithvik Pasumarty
Wayzata High School, Plymouth, Minnesota, United States

1 Introduction
In this paper, we discuss a very fundamental, yet underexposed, idea to geometry. An affine transformation
between two affine spaces U, V is a transformation : U V such that for any three collinear points A,
B, and C, the points A0 = (A), B 0 = (B), and C 0 = (C) are collinear, and
CA C 0 A0
= 0 0
BA BA
In the scope of this paper, we can think of an affine transformation of the plane we will work only with
affine transformations between R2 and itself to be any transformation that preserves collinearity and
ratios of segments.
Theorem 1.1. All affine transformations can be written as (x, y) = (a1 x + b1 y + c1 , a2 x + b2 y + c2 ).
Proof. Suppose is an affine transformation, and let (P ) = (P ) (0). Then 0, A, and A are mapped
A+B


to (0),
(A), and (A) = (0) + ((A) (0)), so (A) = (A). Also, (A + B) = 2 2
=
2 A2 + B2 = (A) + (B), so is a linear map, as desired.

Corollary. We can classify all affine transformations as a combination rotations, translations, dilations,
and shears. A shear is a transformation of the form (x, y) 7 (x + ky, y).
The most important property of affine transformations is that they preserve ratios of lengths and
areas. This often allows us to make very magical assumptions about a configuration, like that a triangle
is equilateral, a parallelogram is a square, or an ellipse is a circle.

2 Some Applications
We begin with a problem of lines.
Example 2.1 (Putnam 2001). 4ABC has an area 1. Points E, F, G lie, respectively, on sides BC, CA, AB
such that AE bisects BF at point R, BF bisects CG at point S, and CG bisects AE at point T . Find
the area of 4RST .
Solution. When Samuel Zbarsky presented his solution to this problem at the Carnegie Mellon Putnam
Seminar, he began it with, We assume that 4ABC is both equilateral and isosceles-right. That is, a
shear along BC will preserve all of the ratios in the problem, so we swap back and forth between whichever
one makes calculations easiest. Consider the following three diagrams:
A
A A
G
G G T
T T F
F F
S S S
R R R
B E C B E C B E C

Mathematical Reflections 4 (2016) 1

 AG
By symmetry in the equilateral case, we can see that AB = BEBC
= CF
CA
= r. In the isosceles-right

case,
we can use the fact that CG bisects AE to obtain the identity (1 r) 1 21 r = 12 = r = 32 5 . Now


CT 1 ST r
we know that CG = 2(1r) , so we can compute SG = 1r . Also, since BS = SG, we have
p
SR BS BR BR BF r2 + (1 r)2
= =1 =1 =1 p =r
SB BS GS CG 12 + (1 r)2

Finally, we have

ST SR 1 r2 r2 73 5
[RST ] = [BSG] = [BCG] = [ABC] = [ABC]
SG SB 2 1r 2 4

Affine transformations are excellent for problems involving ellipses, since an ellipse is the image of a
circle under an affine transformation.

Example 2.2 (Lehigh 2015). What is the area of the largest ellipse that can be inscribed in a triangle
with sides 3, 4, and 5?

Solution. We can perform an affine transformation mapping the 345 triangle to an equilateral triangle:

The ellipse of maximal area in the original triangle will map to the ellipse of maximal area in the new
triangle, which will be its incircle by symmetry. In the equilateral triangle, we compute the ratio of the
incircle to total area:
r2 (K/s)2 K (`2 3/4)
= = 2 = 2
=
K K s (3`/2) 3 3
Since the transformation preserves ratios of areas, we just need to scale back to get the desired ellipses

area: 3 1 (3)(4) =
3 2
2
3
. This ellipse of maximal area is called the Steiner inellipse, and its center is the
centroid of the triangle.

3 Some More Gems

Try the following problems using the right affine transformations.

Exercise 3.1 (Putnam 1994). Let A be the area of the region in the first quadrant bounded by the line
y = 21 x, the x-axis, and the ellipse 19 x2 + y 2 = 1. Find the positive number m such that A is equal to the
area in the first quadrant bounded by the line y = mx, the y-axis, and the ellipse 91 x2 + y 2 .

Exercise 3.2 (Morocco 2015). A line passes through parallelogram ABCD and intersects the segments
AB, AC, and AD at E, F , and G, respectively. Prove that AB
AE
+ AD
AG
= AC
AF
.

Mathematical Reflections 4 (2016) 2

Exercise 3.3. In 4ABC let D be the foot of the perpendicular from A to BC, and let X be any point
on AD. BX and CX intersect AC and AB at E and F , respectively. Show that EDX = XDF .

Exercise 3.4 (AIME 2015). A block of wood has the shape of a right circular cylinder with radius 6 and
height 8, and its entire surface has been painted blue. Points A and B are chosen on the edge of one of the
d on that face measures 120 . The block is then sliced in half along
circular faces of the cylinder so that AB
the plane that passes through point A, point B, and the center of the cylinder,
revealing a flat, unpainted
face on each half. The area of one of these unpainted faces is a + b c, where a, b, and c are integers
and c is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find a + b + c.

Exercise 3.5 (CMIMC 2016). Let P be the unique parabola in the xy-plane which is tangent to the x-axis
at (5, 0) and to the y-axis at (0, 12). We say a line ` is P-friendly if the x-axis, y-axis, and P divide `
into three segments, each of which has equal length. If the sum of the slopes of all P-friendly lines can be
written in the form mn
for m and n positive relatively prime integers, find m + n.

4 Solutions
Exercise 3.1 (Putnam 1994). Let A be the area of the region in the first quadrant bounded by the line
y = 21 x, the x-axis, and the ellipse 19 x2 + y 2 = 1. Find the positive number m such that A is equal to the
area in the first quadrant bounded by the line y = mx, the y-axis, and the ellipse 91 x2 + y 2 .

Solution. We could solve this problem using a nasty integral. Instead, we scale along the x-axis, trans-
forming the ellipse into a circle:

The y = 12 x line is transformed into the line y = 23 x. By symmetry, the y = mx line must be transformed
into the line y = 23 x. Transforming back, we get m = 29 .

Exercise 3.2 (Morocco 2015). A line passes through parallelogram ABCD and intersects the segments
AB, AC, and AD at E, F , and G, respectively. Prove that AB
AE
+ AD
AG
= AC
AF
.

Solution. Perform an affine transformation mapping the parallelogram to the square [0, 1]2 .

D C D C

G G
F F
E E
A B A B
uv
, uv


Now we can let E = (u, 0) and G = (0, v) to get F = . We conclude with the relation
1
u+v u+v

u
+ v1 = 2 uv
u+v .
2

Exercise 3.3. In 4ABC let D be the foot of the perpendicular from A to BC, and let X be any point
on AD. BX and CX intersect AC and AB at E and F , respectively. Show that EDX = XDF .

Mathematical Reflections 4 (2016) 3

Solution. Perform a dilation centered at D along the AD axis so that X is the orthocenter of ABC. Note
that this would preserve the fact that DE and DF are reflections over AD.

A
A
E
E F
F X X

B D C B D C

Since BDXF and CDXE are cyclic, EDX = ECX = 90 A = XBF = XDF .

Exercise 3.4 (AIME 2015). A block of wood has the shape of a right circular cylinder with radius 6 and
height 8, and its entire surface has been painted blue. Points A and B are chosen on the edge of one of the
d on that face measures 120 . The block is then sliced in half along
circular faces of the cylinder so that AB
the plane that passes through point A, point B, and the center of the cylinder,
revealing a flat, unpainted
face on each half. The area of one of these unpainted faces is a + b c, where a, b, and c are integers
and c is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find a + b + c.

Solution. The trace of the cut is a truncated ellipse.

The length of one axis is the diameter of the circle, 12. We can calculate the length of the other axis
from similar triangles to be 20. Furthermore, it is truncated at a distance 5 from the center. It remains to
use this information to calculate the area of this truncated ellipse.
We perform an affine transformation mapping the ellipse to a truncated circle of radius 6. Then this
6
circle is truncated at distance 10 5 = 3 from the center, so the two arcs of the truncated circle each have

measure 60 . This means the area of the truncated circle is

2 60 1 2 3
26 + 2 6 = 12 + 18 3
360 2 2

Scaling back, that is 10
6
(12 + 18 3) = 20 + 30 3.

Exercise 3.5 (CMIMC 2016). Let P be the unique parabola in the xy-plane which is tangent to the x-axis
at (5, 0) and to the y-axis at (0, 12). We say a line ` is P-friendly if the x-axis, y-axis, and P divide `
into three segments, each of which has equal length. If the sum of the slopes of all P-friendly lines can be
written in the form mn
for m and n positive relatively prime integers, find m + n.

Solution. Scale along the y-axis so that (0, 12) is replaced with (0, 5). The answer will be 12
5
times as big

as this new problems answer. Rotate the parabola 45 , and using the angle addition formulas, we find
m1
that for each slope m in this new frame, the slope in the original frame is m+1 .

Mathematical Reflections 4 (2016) 4

  
We are now looking at the parabola that is tangent to the lines y = x at 52 , 52 . Simple

calculations reveal this to
be the parabola P 0 : y = 2 2
10
x + 5 4 2 . Let A = (a, a) and B = (b, b), and we
want 13 a + 32 b, 13 a + 23 b and 32 a + 13 b, 23 a + 13 b to be on P 0 :

(
2
31 a + 23 b = 102 31 a + 23 b + 5 4 2

2
23 a + 13 b = 102 32 a + 13 b + 5 4 2

Subtracting, we get a + b = 102 (a + b)(b a). a + b = 0 means that the line is horizontal, which gives

way to two solutions
easily verifiable from the intermediate valuetheorem. Otherwise, b a = 5 2 =
b+a
m = ba = 52 b 1. Thus, in the original frame the slope is 1 5 b 2 . We can use Vietas formulas in the
original equation,  2
1 2 2 1 2 5 2
(b 5 2) + b = (b 5 2) + b +
3 3 10 3 3 4
to evaluate the sum of these two slopes to be 2 36. Adding the two horizontal lines that each contribute
1 to the sum, we get that the sum of all of the slopes is 36, which scales back to 36 12
5
= 432
5
.

Rithvik Pasumarty
Wayzata High School
Plymouth, Minnesota, United States
[email protected]

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