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32 views3 pages

Mathematical Association of America

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A Simple Proof of Pascal's Hexagon Theorem

Author(s): Jan van Yzeren


Source: The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 100, No. 10 (Dec., 1993), pp. 930-931
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
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A SimpleProofofPascal's
HexagonTheorem

Jan van Yzeren

ofa hexagonlieon a circleand thethree


Pascal's Theorem.If thevertices pairsof
opposite thenthethree
sidesintersect, are collinear.
pointsofintersection
This theoremwas publishedin 1640 by sixteen-year-old Blaise Pascal. His
originalproofhas been lost,and at timesone wonderswhether one or anotherof
theknownproofsis, in fact,Pascal'soriginalone. This also appliesto thesimple
proofgiven here.
Beginwiththe hexagonA1, i = 0,. . ., 5 of Figure1, and considerthe circle
throughthe pointsA1, A4 and P1, wherethe firsttwo pointsare (opposite)
and thelastis one ofthe"Pascal points"connectedto them.Thiscircle
vertices,
meetsAOA1and A3A4 at Bo and B1 respectively, andone uses arcsofthecircles
shownto findequal anglesinscribed inthem(or supplementary anglesinscribed in
oppositearcs).As a consequence, thetriangles and
P1BOB1 P2AOA3 have respec-
parallelsides,thatis,theyare perspective
tively fromthepointP0. Therefore, P0,
P1 and P2 are collinear.

Figure 1

The proofalso coversthecase of A0A111A3A4 Then,the


(i.e., P0 at infinity).
triangles thatis, P1P2 is parallelwithA0A1 and
are translative, A3A4. The only
specialcase notcoveredbytheproofconcernshexagonsinscribed in a circlewith
parallelsas oppositesides. This case, however, follows easilyfrom appropriate
arcs.
WhetherPascal gavethisproofis open to debate,butit seemsthatthisproof
has not turnedup for350 years.On thispointProfessorC:oxeterkindlyhas
commented as follows:"4Itis indeedremarkable thatthiselegantproofwas not

930 A SIMPLE PROOF OF PASCAL' S HEXAGON THEOREM [December

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foundin 350years,and also somewhat thatGuggenheimer
remarkable cameclose
a peculiarlemma."[3]
to it in 1967and thenfeltobligedto introduce
Anyway, delayjustifiessomespecialattention
thehistoric fortheheuristicsof
thissimpleproof.
The basicfigureconsistsof twopencilsof fourlinesjoiningpointson a circle,
A1, A2, A3 and A5.
viz.(Figure2) Ao and A4 with,respectively,
A4

A2

Figure2

Evidently, the twopencilsare congruent (equal anglesbetweencorresponding


lines).Therefore, if AAOA2Qis made similarto AA4A2A1,the segmentsA2Q
and A2A1 are dividedproportionally and A1AO//P1R//ST.Now,the crucial
idea is to buildup thisbasicfigurein a conversemanner,starting withtwogiven
similartriangles:AA A2Q AA4A2A1 and forgetting thecircle.
Then,chooseP1 and R on,respectively, A1A2and QA2,suchthatP1R//A1A0.
Similarly S and T. Hereuponthe followingpointsare defined:A5 = A4P1 n AOR,
A3 = A4S nAoT, PO=A4S nAOA1,P2 =AoR nA2A3.
To provethatPO,P1 and P2 are collinear:
ConsiderARAOU,RU//P2A3,and its translative image AP1BOB1.Then,Bo
lieson POAOas P0AO//P1R, and B1 lieson POA3,becauseP1B1= RU = A2A3
RT/A2T=A2A3 P1S/A2S.Therefore, the trianglesP1BOB1and P2AOA3are
perspective fromthepointPO and,indeed,PO,P1 and P2 are collinear.
Afterwards thecrucialpointsBo and B1 can be founddirectly. In fact,theylie
on thecircumcircle of AP1A1A4,because Z P1BoA1= / A5AoA1= I A5A4A1
= Z P1A4A1and Z A4B1BO= Z A4A3Ao = ZA4A1Ao = Z A4A1Bo.Actually,
drawing thecircumcircle of AP1A1A4is theverypointofthenewproof.
Background is thefactthatthemetricoftheEuclideanplane
of theheuristics
can be definedby givinga pair of similartriangles. Afterthat,all othermetric
properties mustfollowbymeansofparallelsand proportionalities (affinetools).
REFERENCES

1. H. S. M. Coxeterand S. L. Greitzer,
Geometry New Mathematical
Revisited, Library, Random
House andThe L. W. SingerCompany, 1967.
Plane(2nded.),Cambridge
2. H. S. M. Coxeter,TheRealProjective Press,1961.
University
3. H. W. Guggenheimer, PlaneGeometryandIts Groups,HoldenDay Inc.,Cambridge,1967.
4. R. A. Johnson,AdvancedEuclideanGeometry, NewYork,1960.
DoverPublications,
Barnes& Noble,NewYork,1959.
5. N. A. Court,CollegeGeometry,

ofMathematics
Department
Eindhoven
University
Technological
5600MB
TheNetherlands,

1993] A SIMPLE PROOF OF PASCAL'S HEXAGON THEOREM 931

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