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Menelaus Type Hoehn09625

This document presents a Menelaus-type theorem for pentagrams. It proves that if a pentagram is formed by the diagonals of a convex pentagon, then the product of ratios of segments taken in order around the pentagram is equal to 1. The proof uses Menelaus' theorem and considers triangles formed by the diagonals and sides of the pentagram in blocks of five.

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77 views3 pages

Menelaus Type Hoehn09625

This document presents a Menelaus-type theorem for pentagrams. It proves that if a pentagram is formed by the diagonals of a convex pentagon, then the product of ratios of segments taken in order around the pentagram is equal to 1. The proof uses Menelaus' theorem and considers triangles formed by the diagonals and sides of the pentagram in blocks of five.

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1534mzb
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V O L . 66, N O .

2, APRIL 1 9 9 3 121

A Menelaus-Type Theorem for the Pentagram


L A R R Y HOEHN
Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, TN 37044

A pentagram, or star-polygon, is formed by the diagonals of a convex pentagon such as


that shown in FIGURE1. The regular pentagram has been studied extensively
beginning with the Pythagoreans who used it as an emblem of their society. The most
ubiquitous property of the regular pentagram is that involving the golden ratio [I]. A
very brief history of regular pentagrams is given in [3, pp. 44-45]. In this note we
derive some additional properties for arbitrary pentagrams.

A,
FIGURE 1

Our main result is reminiscent of the theorems of Menelaus and Ceva in that the
products of ratios of segments taken in order around a polygon is equal to 1. More+
precisely:
1. If A 1 B 1 A 2 B 2 A 3 B 3 A 4 B 4 A 5 Bis5 a pentagram, then
THEOREM

For the proof we repeatedly use Menelaus' Theorem, which states that if a line
intersects the (extended) sides of m,
Bd, of AABC in points D , E , F, respec-
tively, then
_A D_ . _BE. _ CF
= - 1.
DB EC FA
122 MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

Proofs of this famous theorem can be found in many geometry books-one example
is [2].
For our proof we find it convenient to let A i + , = A i and Bi+, = Bi for i = 1,2,. . . ,5.
We use Menelaus' Theorem in blocks of five triangles as follows:
For triangles of the form A,B, B t + 4 and lines A , + l A t + 3 , we have

For the same triangles A , B, B,+, but for lines A,+,A,+,, we have

By multiplying together the ten equations of (I) and ( 2 ) , simplihing, and rearrang-
ing factors we have

Similarly for triangles of the form A i A , + B, + 3 and lines A , + l A i +4, we have


VOL. 6 6 , NO. 2 , APRIL 1993 123
-.-.-- B2B3
- - 1 and
B4Al A3B2 B3A4

For the same triangles A i A i + ,B,,, but for lines A , , , A , +,,we have

A4B5 AlBl
-.-.-- B2A2
- - 1 and
B5Al BlB2 A2A4

By multiplying the ten equations of (4) and (51, simplifying, and rearranging the
factors, we obtain

By dividing equation (3) by (6), observing that the cubed factors are identical, and the
second factors are reciprocals, we obtain

and the result follows. As a bonus of (3) and (6) we note that

REFERENCES

1. H. V. Baravalle, The geometry of the pentagon and the golden section, The Mathematics Teacher 41
(19481, 22-31.
2. H. S . M.Coxeter and S . L. Greitzer, Geometry Revisited, MAA (New Mathematical Library), 1967.
3. Howard Eves, A Survey of Geometry (rev. ed.), Alyn and Bacon, Inc., Boston, 1972.

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