Van Aubel's theorem
TheoremVan Aubel's theorem#✓fully proved
Let \(A\), \(B\), \(C\), \(D\) be any four points of the Euclidean plane \(\mathbb{R}^2\), and let \(\rho(x, y) = (-y, x)\) be the counterclockwise rotation by \(90^\circ\). On each directed side \(A \to B\), \(B \to C\), \(C \to D\), \(D \to A\) erect the square lying to its left; its centre is the side midpoint plus half the side vector rotated by \(\rho\): \(O_{AB} = \tfrac12(A + B) + \tfrac12\rho(B - A)\), \(O_{BC} = \tfrac12(B + C) + \tfrac12\rho(C - B)\), \(O_{CD} = \tfrac12(C + D) + \tfrac12\rho(D - C)\) and \(O_{DA} = \tfrac12(D + A) + \tfrac12\rho(A - D)\). Then \(\lVert O_{AB} - O_{CD} \rVert = \lVert O_{BC} - O_{DA} \rVert\) and \(\langle O_{AB} - O_{CD}, O_{BC} - O_{DA} \rangle = 0\): the segments joining the centres of opposite squares have equal length and are perpendicular.
No orientation hypothesis is needed. When the vertices are listed clockwise these are the outward squares; when they are listed counterclockwise they are the inward squares, and the outward version is Van Aubel's theorem with squares on the right.
theorem vanAubel :
∀ (A B C D : EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 2))
(Oab Obc Ocd Oda : EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 2)),
Oab = (2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • (A + B) +
(2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • WithLp.toLp 2 (![-((B - A).ofLp 1), ((B - A).ofLp 0)]) →
Obc = (2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • (B + C) +
(2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • WithLp.toLp 2 (![-((C - B).ofLp 1), ((C - B).ofLp 0)]) →
Ocd = (2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • (C + D) +
(2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • WithLp.toLp 2 (![-((D - C).ofLp 1), ((D - C).ofLp 0)]) →
Oda = (2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • (D + A) +
(2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • WithLp.toLp 2 (![-((A - D).ofLp 1), ((A - D).ofLp 0)]) →
‖Oab - Ocd‖ = ‖Obc - Oda‖ ∧ ⟪Oab - Ocd, Obc - Oda⟫_ℝ = 0
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Aubel%27s_theorem.
TheoremVan Aubel's theorem with squares on the right#✓fully proved
Let \(A\), \(B\), \(C\), \(D\) be any four points of the Euclidean plane \(\mathbb{R}^2\), and let \(\rho(x, y) = (y, -x)\) be the clockwise rotation by \(90^\circ\). On each directed side \(A \to B\), \(B \to C\), \(C \to D\), \(D \to A\) erect the square lying to its right; its centre is the side midpoint plus half the side vector rotated by \(\rho\): \(O_{AB} = \tfrac12(A + B) + \tfrac12\rho(B - A)\), \(O_{BC} = \tfrac12(B + C) + \tfrac12\rho(C - B)\), \(O_{CD} = \tfrac12(C + D) + \tfrac12\rho(D - C)\) and \(O_{DA} = \tfrac12(D + A) + \tfrac12\rho(A - D)\). Then \(\lVert O_{AB} - O_{CD} \rVert = \lVert O_{BC} - O_{DA} \rVert\) and \(\langle O_{AB} - O_{CD}, O_{BC} - O_{DA} \rangle = 0\): the segments joining the centres of opposite squares have equal length and are perpendicular.
When \(A\), \(B\), \(C\), \(D\) are listed counterclockwise these are the outward squares; together with Van Aubel's theorem for squares on the left this covers the outward construction for both orientations.
theorem vanAubel_right :
∀ (A B C D : EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 2))
(Oab Obc Ocd Oda : EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 2)),
Oab = (2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • (A + B) +
(2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • WithLp.toLp 2 (![((B - A).ofLp 1), -((B - A).ofLp 0)]) →
Obc = (2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • (B + C) +
(2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • WithLp.toLp 2 (![((C - B).ofLp 1), -((C - B).ofLp 0)]) →
Ocd = (2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • (C + D) +
(2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • WithLp.toLp 2 (![((D - C).ofLp 1), -((D - C).ofLp 0)]) →
Oda = (2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • (D + A) +
(2 : ℝ)⁻¹ • WithLp.toLp 2 (![((A - D).ofLp 1), -((A - D).ofLp 0)]) →
‖Oab - Ocd‖ = ‖Obc - Oda‖ ∧ ⟪Oab - Ocd, Obc - Oda⟫_ℝ = 0
Loading dependency explorer…
The dependency explorer needs JavaScript and its graph data.