Ex-circum-center?

Geometry Level 3

Can a triangle's circumcenter and one of its excenters be the same point?

Yes. No. I don't know.

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1 solution

David Vreken
Dec 19, 2018

Assume that the excenter and the circumcenter are the same point of A B C \triangle ABC . Since the excenter is always outside the triangle, the circumcenter would have to be outside as well, meaning one of the angles would be obtuse. Let A A be the obtuse angle, E E be the excenter (and circumcenter), D D be the tangent point of the extension of A B AB , and F F be the tangent point of the extension of A C AC .

Let the circumradius be R R and the excenter opposite the obtuse angle (the one pictured) be r 1 r_1 . Then E C = R EC = R and E F = r 1 EF = r_1 , and since E C EC is the hypotenuse and E F EF is a leg of right triangle C E F \triangle CEF , E F E C EF \leq EC , so r 1 R r_1 \leq R .

However, since the excenter r 1 r_1 is opposite the obtuse angle, it must be greater than the other excenters r 2 r_2 and r 3 r_3 , and r 1 r_1 is greater than the incenter r r . We also have the relationship r 1 + r 2 + r 3 r = 4 R r_1 + r_2 + r_3 - r = 4R . But since r 1 > r 2 r_1 > r_2 , r 1 > r 3 r_1 > r_3 , and r 1 > r r_1 > r , we have 4 r 1 > r 1 + r 2 + r 3 r = 4 R 4r_1 > r_1 + r_2 + r_3 - r = 4R , so 4 r 1 > 4 R 4r_1 > 4R or r 1 > R r_1 > R .

Therefore, we have a contradiction that r 1 R r_1 \leq R and r 1 > R r_1 > R , so reject our assumption that the excenter and incenter can be the same point.

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