b

Forum Geometricorum
Volume 3 (2003) 49–56. b b

FORUM GEOM
ISSN 1534-1178

Some Configurations of Triangle Centers

Lawrence S. Evans

Abstract. Many collections of triangle centers and symmetrically defined trian-

gle points are vertices of configurations. This illustrates a high level of organiza-
tion among the points and their collinearities. Some of the configurations illus-
trated are inscriptable in Neuberg’s cubic curve and others arise from Monge’s
theorem.

1. Introduction
By a configuration K we shall mean a collection of p points and g lines with r
points on each line and q lines meeting at each point. This implies the relationship
pq = gr. We then say that K is a (pq , gr ) configuration. The simplest configura-
tion is a point with a line through it. Another example is the triangle configuration,
(32 , 32 ) with p = g = 3 and q = r = 2. When p = g, K is called self-dual, and
then we must also have q = r. The symbol for the configuration is now simpli-
fied to read (pq ). The smallest (n3 ) self-dual configurations exist combinatorially,
when the “lines” are considered as suitable triples of points (vertices), but they can-
not be realized with lines in the Euclidean plane. Usually when configurations are
presented graphically, the lines appear as segments to make the figure compact and
easy to interpret. Only one (73 ) configuration exists, the Fano plane of projective
geometry, and only one (83 ) configuration exists, the Möbius-Kantor configura-
tion. Neither of these can be realized with straight line segments. For larger n, the
symbol may not determine a configuration uniquely. The smallest (n3 ) configu-
rations consisting of line segments in the Euclidean plane are (93 ), and there are
three of them, one of which is the familiar Pappus configuration [4, pp.94–170].
The number of distinct (n3 ) configurations grows rapidly with n. For example,
there are 228 different (123 ) configurations [11, p.40]. In the discussion here, we
shall only be concerned with configurations lying in a plane.
While configurations have long been studied as combinatorial objects, it does
not appear that in any examples the vertices have been identified with triangle-
derived points. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in triangle
geometry along with the recognition of many new special points defined in different
very ways. Since each point is defined from original principles, it is somewhat
surprising that so many of them are collinear in small sets. An even higher level
of relationship among special points is seen when they can be incorporated into
Publication Date: February 24, 2003. Communicating Editor: Steve Sigur.
50 L. S. Evans

certain configurations of moderate size. Then the collinearities and their incidences
are summarized in a tidy, symmetrical, and graphic way. Here we exhibit several
configurations whose vertices are naturally defined by triangles and whose lines
are collinearities among them. It happens that the general theory for the first three
examples was worked out long ago, but then the configurations were not identified
as consisting of familiar triangle points and their collinearities.

2. Some configurations inscriptable in a cubic

First let us set the notation for several triangles. Given a triangle T with vertices
A, B, and C, let A∗ be the reflection of vertex A in side BC, A+ the apex of
an equilateral triangle erected outward on BC, and A− the apex of an equilateral
triangle erected inward on BC. Similarly define the corresponding points for B
and C. Denote the triangle with vertices A∗ , B ∗ , C ∗ as T∗ and similarly define
the triangles T+ and T− . Using trilinear coordinates it is straightforward to verify
that the four triangles above are pairwise in perspective to one another. The points
of perspective are as follows.

T T∗ T+ T−
T H F+ F−
T∗ H J− J+
T+ F+ J− O
T− F− J+ O
Here, O and H are respectively the circumcenter and orthocenter, F± the isogonic
(Fermat) points, and J± the isodynamic points. They are triangle centers as defined
by Kimberling [5, 6, 7, 8], who gives their trilinear coordinates and discusses their
geometric significance. See also the in §5. For a simple simultaneous construction
of all these points, see Evans [2].
To assemble the configurations, we first need to identify certain sets of collinear
points. Now it is advantageous to introduce a notation for collinearity. Write
L(X, Y, Z, . . . ) to denote the line containing X, Y , Z, . . . . The key to identifying
configurations among all the previously mentioned points depends on the observa-
tion that A∗ , B+ , and C− are always collinear, so we may write L(A∗ , B+ , C− ).
One can easily verify this using trilinear coordinates. This is also true for any
permutation of A, B, and C, so we have
(I): the 6 lines L(A∗ , B+ , C− ), L(A∗ , B− , C+ ), L(B ∗ , C+ , A− ),
L(B ∗ , C− , A+ ), L(C ∗ , A+ , B− ), L(C ∗ , A− , B+ ).
They all occur in Figures 1, 2, and 3. In fact the nine points A+ , A− , A∗ ,
. . . themselves form the vertices of a (92 , 63 ) configuration.
It is easy to see other collinearities, namely 3 from each pair of triangles in
perspective. For example, triangles T+ and T− are in perspective from O, so we
have
(II): the 3 lines L(A+ , O, A− ), L(B+ , O, B− ) and L(C+ , O, C− ).
See Figure 2.
Some configurations of triangle centers 51

C+

C∗
F− B−
B

A+

A∗
F+ A−
H

A
C

C−

B∗
B+

Figure 1. The Cremona-Richmond configuration

2.1. The Cremona-Richmond configuration (153 ). Consider the following sets of

collinearities of three points:
(III): the 3 lines L(A, F+ , A+ ), L(B, F+ , B+ ) and L(C, F+ , C+ );
(IV): the 3 lines L(A, F− , A− ), L(B, F− , B− ) and L(C, F− , C− );
(V): the 3 lines L(A, H, A∗ ), L(B, H, B ∗ ) and L(C, H, C ∗ ).
The 15 points (A, B, C, A∗ , B ∗ , C ∗ , A± , B± , C± , H, F± ) and 15 lines in (I),
(III), (IV), and (V) form a figure which is called the Cremona-Richmond configu-
ration [7]. See Figure 1. It has 3 lines meeting at each point with 3 points on each
line, so it is self-dual with symbol (153 ). Inspection reveals that this configuration
itself contains no triangles.
The reader may have noticed that the fifteen points in the configuration all lie
on Neuberg’s cubic curve, which is known to contain many triangle centers [7].
Recently a few papers, such as Pinkernell’s [10] discussing Neuberg’s cubic have
52 L. S. Evans

Ic
C+

B B−

Ia
A+

I O A−
H

A
C

C−

Ib
B+

Figure 2

appeared, so we shall not elaborate on the curve itself. It has been known for a long
time that many configurations are inscriptable in cubic curves, possibly first noticed
by Schoenflies circa 1888 according to Feld [3]. However, it does not appear to
be well-known that Neuberg’s cubic in particular supports such configurations of
familiar points. We shall exhibit two more configurations inscriptable in Neuberg’s
cubic.

2.2. A (183 ) associated with the excentral triangle. For another configuration, this
one of the type (183 ), we employ the excentral triangle, that is, the triangle whose
vertices are the excenters of T. Denote the excenter opposite vertex A by Ia , etc.,
and denote the extriangle as Tx . Triangles T and Tx are in perspective from the
incenter, I. This introduces two more sets of collinearities involving the excenters:
(VI): the 3 lines L(A, I, Ia ), L(B, I, Ib ) and L(C, I, Ic );
(VII): the 3 lines L(Ib , A, Ic ), L(Ic , B, Ia ) and L(Ia , C, Ib ).
Some configurations of triangle centers 53

The 18 lines of (I), (II), (V), (VI), (VII) and the 18 points A, B, C, Ia , Ib , Ic ,
A∗ , B ∗ , C ∗ , A± , B± , C± , O, H, and I form an (183 ) configuration. See Figure
2. There are enough points to suggest the outline of Neuberg’s cubic, which is
bipartite. The 10 points in the lower right portion of the figure lie on the ovoid
portion of the curve. The 8 other points lie on the serpentine portion, which has an
asymptote parallel to Euler’s line (dashed). For other shapes of the basic triangle
T, these points will not necessarily lie on the same components of the curve.

2.3. A configuration (124 , 163 ). Now we define two more sets of collinearities
involving the isodynamic points:
(VIII): the 3 lines L(A∗ , J− , A+ ), L(B ∗ , J− , B+ ) and L(C ∗ , J− , C+ );
(IX): the 3 lines L(A∗ , J+ , A− ), L(B ∗ , J+ , B− ) and L(C ∗ , J+ , C− ).
Among the centers of perspective we have defined so far, there is an additional
collinearity, L(J+ , O, J− ), which is the Brocard axis. See Figure 3.

C+

F− B− C∗
B

A+

K
A∗ A−
O
J+
F+
H A
C

J− C−

B∗ B+

Figure 3

Using Weierstrass elliptic functions, Feld proved that within any bipartite cubic,
a real configuration can be inscribed which has 12 points and 16 lines, with 4
lines meeting at each point and 3 points on each line [11], so that is, its symbol
is (124 , 163 ). Now the Neuberg cubic of a non-equilateral triangle is bipartite,
consisting of an ovoid portion and a serpentine portion whose asymptote is parallel
to the Euler line of the triangle. Here one such inscriptable configuration consists
of the following sets of lines: (I), (II), (VIII), (IX), and the line, L(J+ , O, J− ).
See Figure 3. The three triangles T+ , T− , and T∗ are pair-wise in perspective
54 L. S. Evans

with collinear perspectors J+ , J− , and O. The vertices of the basic triangle T are
not in this configuration.

3. A Desargues configuration with triangle centers as vertices

There are so many collinearities involving triangle centers that we can also ex-
hibit a Desargues (103 ) configuration with vertices consisting entirely of basic
centers. Let K denote the symmedian (Lemoine’s) point, Np the center of the
nine-point circle, G the centroid, N+ the first Napoleon point, and N− the second
Napoleon point. Then the ten points F+ , F− , J+ , J− , N+ , N− , K, G, H and Np
form the vertices of such a configuration. This is seen on noting that the triangles
F− J+ N+ and F+ J− N− are in perspective from K with the line of perspective
L(G, Np , H), which is Euler’s line. See Figure 4. In a Desargues configuration
any vertex may be chosen as the center of perspective of two suitable triangles.
For simplicity we have chosen K in this example. Unlike the previous examples,
Desargues configurations are not inscriptable in cubic curves [9].

H
J−

F+
G
N+K N−
A
C J+

O F−

Figure 4

4. Configurations from Monge’s theorem

Another way triangle centers form vertices of configurations arises from Monge’s
theorem [4, 11]. This theorem states that if we have three circles, then the 3 exter-
nal centers of simitude (ecs) are collinear and that each external center of simitude
is collinear with two of the internal centers of simitude (ics). These 4 collinear-
ities form a (43 , 62 ) configuration, i.e., a complete quadrilateral with the centers
of similitude as vertices. This is best illustrated by an example. Suppose we have
the circumcircle, the nine-point circle, and the incircle of a triangle. The ics of
the circumcircle and the nine-point circle is the centroid, G, and their ecs is the
orthocenter, H. The ics of the nine-point circle and the incircle is X12 in Kim-
berling’s list and the ecs is Feuerbach’s point, X11 . The ics of the circumcir-
cle and the incircle is X55 , and the ecs is X56 . The lines of the configuration
Some configurations of triangle centers 55

are then L(H, X56 , X11 ), L(G, X55 , X11 ), L(G, X56 , X12 ), and L(H, X55 , X12 ).
This construction, of course, applies to any group of three circles related to the
triangle. In the example given, the circles can be nested, so it may not be easy to
see the centers of similitude. In such a case, the radii of the circles can be reduced
in the same proportion to make the circles small enough that they do not overlap.
The ecs’s and ics’s remain the same. The ecs of two such circles is the point
where the two common external tangents meet, and the ics is the point where the
two common internal tangents meet. When two of the circles have the same radii,
their ics is the midpoint of the line joining their centers and their ecs is the point
at infinity in the direction of the line joining their centers.
One may ask what happens when a fourth circle whose center is not collinear
with any other two is also considered. Monge’s theorem applies to each group
of three circles. First it happens that the four lines containing only ecs’s them-
selves form a (62 , 43 ) configuration. Second, when the twelve lines containing an
ecs and two ics’s are annexed, the result is a (124 , 163 ) configuration. This is a
projection onto the plane of Reye’s three-dimensional configuration, which arises
from a three-dimensional analog of Monge’s theorem for four spheres [4]. This is
illustrated in Figure 5 with the vertices labelled with the points of Figure 3, which
shows that these two (124 , 163 ) configurations are actually the same even though
the representation in Figure 5 may not be inscriptable in a bipartite cubic. Evi-
dently larger configurations arise by the same process when yet more circles are
considered.

5. Final remarks
We have see that certain collections of collinear triangle points can be knitted to-
gether into highly symmetrical structures called configurations. Furthermore some
relatively large configuratons such as the (183 ) shown above are inscriptable in low
degree algebraic curves, in this case a cubic.
General information about configurations can be found in Hilbert and Cohn-
Vossen [4]. Also we recommend Coxeter [1], which contains an extensive bibliog-
raphy of related material pre-dating 1950.
The centers here appear in Kimberling [5, 6, 7, 8] as Xn for n below.

center I G O H Np K F+ F− J+ J− N+ N−
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 13 14 15 16 17 18
While not known by eponyms, X12 , X55 , and X56 are also geometrically sig-
nificant in elementary ways [7, 8].

References
[1] H. S. M. Coxeter, Self-dual configurations and regular graphs, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc., 56 (1950)
413–455; reprinted in The Beauty of Geometry: Twelve Essays, Dover, Mineola, New York,
1999, which is a reprint of Twelve Geometric Essays, Southern Illinois University Press, Car-
bondale, 1968.
[2] L. S. Evans, A rapid construction of some triangle centers, Forum Geom., 2 (2002) 67–70.
56 L. S. Evans
A∗

B∗

C−
J+
A+

O
B−

B+
C∗ A−

C+

J−

Figure 5

[3] J. M. Feld, Configurations inscriptable in a plane cubic curve, Amer. Math. Monthly, 43 (1936)
549–555.
[4] D. Hilbert and S. Cohn-Vossen, Geometry and the Imagination, 2nd. ed., Chelsea (1990), New
York.
[5] C. Kimberling, Central points and central lines in the plane of a triangle, Math. Magazine, 67
(1994) 163–187.
[6] C. Kimberling, Major centers of triangles, Amer. Math. Monthly, 104 (1997) 431–488.
[7] C. Kimberling, Triangle centers and central triangles, Congressus Numerantium, 129 (1998) 1
– 285.
[8] C. Kimberling, Encyclopedia of Triangle Centers, August 22, 2002 edition, available at
http://www2.evansville.edu/ck6/encyclopedia/; February 17, 2003 edition available at
http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/encyclopedia/ETC.html.
[9] N. S. Mendelsohn, R. Padmanabhan and B. Wolk, Placement of the Desargues configuration on
a cubic curve, Geom. Dedicata, 40 (1991) 165–170.
[10] G. Pinkernell, Cubic curves in the triangle plane, Journal of Geometry, 55 (1996) 141–161.
[11] D. Wells, The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry, (1991), Penguin, Mid-
dlesex.

Lawrence S. Evans: 910 W. 57th Street, La Grange, Illinois 60525, USA

E-mail address: 75342.3052@compuserve.com