Pedal triangle
In plane geometry, a pedal triangle is obtained by projecting a point onto the sides of a triangle.
More specifically, consider a triangle, and a point that is not one of the vertices. Drop perpendiculars from to the three sides of the triangle. Label the intersections of the lines from with the sides. The pedal triangle is then.
If is not an obtuse triangle and is the orthocenter, then the angles of are, and.
The quadrilaterals are cyclic quadrilaterals.
The location of the chosen point relative to the chosen triangle gives rise to some special cases:
- If is the orthocenter, then is the orthic triangle.
- If is the incenter, then is the intouch triangle.
- If is the circumcenter, then is the medial triangle.
- If is on the circumcircle of the triangle, collapses to a line.
Trilinear coordinates
If has trilinear coordinates, then the vertices of the pedal triangle of are given byAntipedal triangle
One vertex,, of the antipedal triangle of is the point of intersection of the perpendicular to through and the perpendicular to through. Its other vertices, and, are constructed analogously. Trilinear coordinates are given byFor example, the excentral triangle is the antipedal triangle of the incenter.
Suppose that does not lie on any of the extended sides, and let denote the isogonal conjugate of. The pedal triangle of is homothetic to the antipedal triangle of. The homothetic center is the point given in trilinear coordinates by
The product of the areas of the pedal triangle of and the antipedal triangle of equals the square of the area of.