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In geometry, the trilinear coordinates x:y:z of a point relative to a given triangle describe the relative directed distances from the three sidelines of the triangle. Trilinear coordinates are an example of homogeneous coordinates. They are often called simply "trilinears". The ratio x:y is the ratio of the perpendicular distances from the point to the sides (extended if necessary) opposite vertices A and B respectively; the ratio y:z is the ratio of the perpendicular distances from the point to the sidelines opposite vertices B and C respectively; and likewise for z:x and vertices C and A.
Contents
- Notation
- Examples
- Collinearities and concurrencies
- Parallel lines
- Angle between two lines
- Perpendicular lines
- Altitude
- Line in terms of distances from vertices
- Actual distance trilinears
- Distance between two points
- Distance from a point to a line
- Quadratic curves
- Circumconics
- Inconics
- Cubic curves
- Between trilinear coordinates and distances from sidelines
- Between barycentric and trilinear coordinates
- Between Cartesian and trilinear coordinates
- References
In the diagram at right, the trilinear coordinates of the indicated interior point are the actual distances (a' , b' , c' ), or equivalently in ratio form, ka' :kb' :kc' for any positive constant k. If a point is on a sideline of the reference triangle, its corresponding trilinear coordinate is 0. If an exterior point is on the opposite side of a sideline from the interior of the triangle, its trilinear coordinate associated with that sideline is negative. It is impossible for all three trilinears to be non-positive.
Notation
The ratio notation x:y:z for trilinears is different from the ordered triple notation (a' , b' , c' ) for actual directed distances. Here each of x, y, and z has no meaning by itself; its ratio to one of the others does have meaning. Thus "comma notation" for trilinears should be avoided, because the notation (x, y, z), which means an ordered triple, does not allow, for example, (x, y, z) = (2x, 2y, 2z), whereas the "colon notation" does allow x : y : z = 2x : 2y : 2z.
Examples
The trilinears of the incenter of a triangle ABC are 1 : 1 : 1; that is, the (directed) distances from the incenter to the sidelines BC, CA, AB are proportional to the actual distances denoted by (r, r, r), where r is the inradius of triangle ABC. Given side lengths a, b, c we have:
Note that, in general, the incenter is not the same as the centroid; the centroid has barycentric coordinates 1 : 1 : 1 (these being proportional to actual signed areas of the triangles BGC, CGA, AGB, where G = centroid.)
The midpoint of, for example, side BC has trilinear coordinates in actual sideline distances
Collinearities and concurrencies
Trilinears enable many algebraic methods in triangle geometry. For example, three points
P = p : q : rU = u : v : wX = x : y : zare collinear if and only if the determinant
equals zero. Thus if x:y:z is a variable point, the equation of a line through the points P and U is D = 0. From this, every straight line has a linear equation homogeneous in x, y, z. Every equation of the form lx+my+nz = 0 in real coefficients is a real straight line of finite points unless l : m: n is proportional to a : b : c, the side lengths, in which case we have the locus of points at infinity.
The dual of this proposition is that the lines
pα + qβ + rγ = 0uα + vβ + wγ = 0,xα + yβ + zγ = 0concur in a point (α, β, γ) if and only if D = 0.
Also, if the actual directed distances are used when evaluating the determinant of D, then (area of (PUX)) = KD, where K = abc/8∆2 if triangle PUX has the same orientation (clockwise or counterclockwise) as triangle ABC, and K = –abc/8∆2 otherwise.
Parallel lines
Two lines with trilinear equations
where a, b, c are the side lengths.
Angle between two lines
The tangents of the angles between two lines with trilinear equations
Perpendicular lines
Thus two lines with trilinear equations
Altitude
The equation of the altitude from vertex A to side BC is
Line in terms of distances from vertices
The equation of a line with variable distances p, q, r from the vertices A, B, C whose opposite sides are a, b, c is
Actual distance trilinears
The trilinears with the coordinate values a', b', c' being the actual perpendicular distances to the sides satisfy
for triangle sides a, b, c and area
Distance between two points
The distance d between two points with actual distance trilinears a' i : b' i : c' i is given by
Distance from a point to a line
The distance d from a point a' 0 : b' 0 : c' 0, in trilinear coordinates of actual distances, to a straight line lx + my + nz = 0 is
Quadratic curves
The equation of a conic section in the variable trilinear point x : y : z is
It has no linear terms and no constant term.
The equation of a circle of radius r having center at actual-distance coordinates (a', b', c' ) is
Circumconics
The equation in trilinears x, y, z of any circumconic of a triangle is
If the parameters l, m, n respectively equal the side lengths a, b, c (or the sines of the angles opposite them) then the equation gives the circumcircle.
Each distinct circumconic has a center unique to itself. The equation in trilinears of the circumconic with center x' : y' : z' is
Inconics
Every conic section inscribed in a triangle has equation in trilinears
with exactly one or three of the unspecified signs being negative.
The equation of the incircle can be simplified to
while the equation for, for example, the excircle adjacent to the side segment opposite vertex A can be written as
Cubic curves
Many cubic curves are easily represented using trilinears. For example, the pivotal self-isoconjugate cubic Z(U,P), as the locus of a point X such that the P-isoconjugate of X is on the line UX is given by the determinant equation
Among named cubics Z(U,P) are the following:
Thomson cubic: Z(X(2),X(1)), where X(2) = centroid, X(1) = incenterFeuerbach cubic: Z(X(5),X(1)), where X(5) = Feuerbach pointDarboux cubic: Z(X(20),X(1)), where X(20) = De Longchamps pointNeuberg cubic: Z(X(30),X(1)), where X(30) = Euler infinity point.Between trilinear coordinates and distances from sidelines
For any choice of trilinear coordinates x:y:z to locate a point, the actual distances of the point from the sidelines are given by a' = kx, b' = ky, c' = kz where k can be determined by the formula
Between barycentric and trilinear coordinates
A point with trilinears x : y : z has barycentric coordinates ax : by : cz where a, b, c are the sidelengths of the triangle. Conversely, a point with barycentrics α : β : γ has trilinears α/a : β/b : γ/c.
Between Cartesian and trilinear coordinates
Given a reference triangle ABC, express the position of the vertex B in terms of an ordered pair of Cartesian coordinates and represent this algebraically as a vector B, using vertex C as the origin. Similarly define the position vector of vertex A as A. Then any point P associated with the reference triangle ABC can be defined in a Cartesian system as a vector P = k1A + k2B. If this point P has trilinear coordinates x : y : z then the conversion formula from the coefficients k1 and k2 in the Cartesian representation to the trilinear coordinates is, for side lengths a, b, c opposite vertices A, B, C,
and the conversion formula from the trilinear coordinates to the coefficients in the Cartesian representation is
More generally, if an arbitrary origin is chosen where the Cartesian coordinates of the vertices are known and represented by the vectors A, B and C and if the point P has trilinear coordinates x : y : z, then the Cartesian coordinates of P are the weighted average of the Cartesian coordinates of these vertices using the barycentric coordinates ax, by and cz as the weights. Hence the conversion formula from the trilinear coordinates x, y, z to the vector of Cartesian coordinates P of the point is given by
where the side lengths are |C − B| = a, |A − C| = b and |B − A| = c.