Heronian triangle explained

In geometry, a Heronian triangle (or Heron triangle) is a triangle whose side lengths,, and and area are all positive integers. Heronian triangles are named after Heron of Alexandria, based on their relation to Heron's formula which Heron demonstrated with the example triangle of sides and area .[1]

Heron's formula implies that the Heronian triangles are exactly the positive integer solutions of the Diophantine equation

16A2=(a+b+c)(a+b-c)(b+c-a)(c+a-b);

that is, the side lengths and area of any Heronian triangle satisfy the equation, and any positive integer solution of the equation describes a Heronian triangle.[2]

If the three side lengths are setwise coprime (meaning that the greatest common divisor of all three sides is 1), the Heronian triangle is called primitive.

Triangles whose side lengths and areas are all rational numbers (positive rational solutions of the above equation) are sometimes also called Heronian triangles or rational triangles; in this article, these more general triangles will be called rational Heronian triangles. Every (integral) Heronian triangle is a rational Heronian triangle. Conversely, every rational Heronian triangle is similar to exactly one primitive Heronian triangle.

In any rational Heronian triangle, the three altitudes, the circumradius, the inradius and exradii, and the sines and cosines of the three angles are also all rational numbers.

Scaling to primitive triangles

Scaling a triangle with a factor of consists of multiplying its side lengths by ; this multiplies the area by

s2

and produces a similar triangle. Scaling a rational Heronian triangle by a rational factor produces another rational Heronian triangle.

Given a rational Heronian triangle of side lengths \frac pd, \frac qd,\frac rd, the scale factor \frac d produce a rational Heronian triangle such that its side lengths a, b,c are setwise coprime integers. It is proved below that the area is an integer, and thus the triangle is a Heronian triangle. Such a triangle is often called a primitive Heronian triangle.

In summary, every similarity class of rational Heronian triangles contains exactly one primitive Heronian triangle. A byproduct of the proof is that exactly one of the side lengths of a primitive Heronian triangle is an even integer.

Proof: One has to prove that, if the side lengths a, b,c of a rational Heronian triangle are coprime integers, then the area is also an integer and exactly one of the side lengths is even.

The Diophantine equation given in the introduction shows immediately that

16A2

is an integer. Its square root

4A

is also an integer, since the square root of an integer is either an integer or an irrational number.

If exactly one of the side lengths is even, all the factors in the right-hand side of the equation are even, and, by dividing the equation by, one gets that

A2

and

A

are integers.

As the side lengths are supposed to be coprime, one is left with the case where one or three side lengths are odd. Supposing that is odd, the right-hand side of the Diophantine equation can be rewritten

((a+b)2-c2)(c2-(a-b)2),

with

a+b

and

a-b

even. As the square of an odd integer is congruent to

1

modulo, the right-hand side of the equation must be congruent to

-1

modulo . It is thus impossible, that one has a solution of the Diophantine equation, since

16A2

must be the square of an integer, and the square of an integer is congruent to or modulo .

Examples

Any Pythagorean triangle is a Heronian triangle. The side lengths of such a triangle are integers, by definition. In any such triangle, one of the two shorter sides has even length, so the area (the product of these two sides, divided by two) is also an integer.

Examples of Heronian triangles that are not right-angled are the isosceles triangle obtained by joining a Pythagorean triangle and its mirror image along a side of the right angle. Starting with the Pythagorean triple this gives two Heronian triangles with side lengths and and area .

More generally, given two Pythagorean triples

(a,b,c)

and

(a,d,e)

with largest entries and, one can join the corresponding triangles along the sides of length (see the figure) for getting a Heronian triangle with side lengths

c,e,b+d

and area \tfrac12a(b+d) (this is an integer, since the area of a Pythagorean triangle is an integer).

There are Heronian triangles that cannot be obtained by joining Pythagorean triangles. For example, the Heronian triangle of side lengths

5,29,30

and area 72, since none of its altitudes is an integer. Such Heronian triangles are known as . However, every Heronian triangle can be constructed from right triangles with rational side lengths, and is thus similar to a decomposable Heronian triangle. In fact, at least one of the altitudes of a triangle is inside the triangle, and divides it into two right triangles. These triangles have rational sides, since the cosine and the sine of the angles of a Heronian triangle are rational numbers, and, with notation of the figure, one has

a=c\sin\alpha

and

b=c\cos\alpha,

where

\alpha

is the left-most angle of the triangle.

Rationality properties

Many quantities related to a Heronian triangle are rational numbers. In particular:

2+b
p
a=\tfrac{2aA}{a

2-c2},

2+b
p
b=\tfrac{2bA}{a

2-c2},

and
2-b
p
c=\tfrac{2cA}{a

2+c2},

where the sides are abc and the area is A;[4] in a Heronian triangle all of a, b, c, and A are integers.

\tfrac{2Aa}{a2+2A}

where A is the triangle's area;[6] in a Heronian triangle, both A and a are integers.

Properties of side lengths

Here are some properties of side lengths of Heronian triangles, whose side lengths are and area is .

s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)

is the square of the area, and the area is an integer, if were prime, it would divide another factor; this is impossible as these factors are all less than).

Parametrizations

A parametric equation or parametrization of Heronian triangles consists of an expression of the side lengths and area of a triangle as functionstypically polynomial functionsof some parameters, such that the triangle is Heronian if and only if the parameters satisfy some constraintstypically, to be positive integers satisfying some inequalities. It is also generally required that all Heronian triangles can be obtained up to a scaling for some values of the parameters, and that these values are unique, if an order on the sides of the triangle is specified.

The first such parametrization was discovered by Brahmagupta (598-668 A.D.), who did not prove that all Heronian triangles can be generated by the parametrization. In the 18th century, Leonhard Euler provided another parametrization and proved that it generates all Heronian triangles. These parametrizations are described in the next two subsections.

In the third subsection, a rational parametrizationthat is a parametrization where the parameters are positive rational numbersis naturally derived from properties of Heronian triangles. Both Brahmagupta's and Euler's parametrizations can be recovered from this rational parametrization by clearing denominators. This provides a proof that Brahmagupta's and Euler's parametrizations generate all Heronian triangles.

Brahmagupta's parametric equation

The Indian mathematician Brahmagupta (598-668 A.D.) discovered the following parametric equations for generating Heronian triangles,[16] but did not prove that every similarity class of Heronian triangles can be obtained this way.

For three positive integers, and that are setwise coprime (

\gcd(m,n,k)=1

) and satisfy

mn>k2

(to guarantee positive side lengths) and (for uniqueness):

\begin{align} a&=n(m2+k2),&s-a&=\tfrac12(b+c-a)=n(mn-k2),\\ b&=m(n2+k2),&s-b&=\tfrac12(c+a-b)=m(mn-k2),\\ c&=(m+n)(mn-k2),&s-c&=\tfrac12(a+b-c)=(m+n)k2,\\ &&s&=\tfrac12(a+b+c)=mn(m+n),\\ A&=mnk(m+n)(mn-k2),&r&=k(mn-k2),\\ \end{align}

where is the semiperimeter, is the area, and is the inradius.

The resulting Heronian triangle is not always primitive, and a scaling may be needed for getting the corresponding primitive triangle. For example, taking, and produces a triangle with, and, which is similar to the Heronian triangle with a proportionality factor of .

The fact that the generated triangle is not primitive is an obstacle for using this parametrization for generating all Heronian triangles with size lengths less than a given bound (since the size of

\gcd(a,b,c)

cannot be predicted.

Euler's parametric equation

The following method of generating all Heronian triangles was discovered by Leonhard Euler, who was the first to provably parametrize all such triangles.

For four positive integers coprime to and coprime to satisfying

mp>nq

(to guarantee positive side lengths):

\begin{align} a&=mn(p2+q2),&s-a&=mq(mp-nq),\\ b&=pq(m2+n2),&s-b&=np(mp-nq),\\ c&=(mq+np)(mp-nq),&s-c&=nq(mq+np),\\ &&s&=mp(mq+np),\\ A&=mnpq(mq+np)(mp-nq),&r&=nq(mp-nq),\\ \end{align}

where is the semiperimeter, is the area, and is the inradius.

Even when,,, and are pairwise coprime, the resulting Heronian triangle may not be primitive. In particular, if,,, and are all odd, the three side lengths are even. It is also possible that,, and have a common divisor other than . For example, with,,, and, one gets, where each side length is a multiple of ; the corresponding primitive triple is, which can also be obtained by dividing the triple resulting from by two, then exchanging and .

Half-angle tangent parametrization

Let

a,b,c>0

be the side lengths of a triangle, let

\alpha,\beta,\gamma

be the interior angles opposite these sides, and let t = \tan\frac\alpha2, u = \tan\frac\beta2, and v = \tan\frac\gamma2 be the half-angle tangents. The values

t,u,v

are all positive and satisfy

tu+uv+vt=1

; this "triple tangent identity" is the half-angle tangent version of the fundamental triangle identity written as \frac\alpha 2 + \frac\beta 2 + \frac\gamma 2 = \frac\pi 2 radians (that is, 90°), as can be proved using the addition formula for tangents. By the laws of sines and cosines, all of the sines and the cosines of

\alpha,\beta,\gamma

are rational numbers if the triangle is a rational Heronian triangle and, because a half-angle tangent is a rational function of the sine and cosine, it follows that the half-angle tangents are also rational.

Conversely, if

t,u,v

are positive rational numbers such that

tu+uv+vt=1,

it can be seen that they are the half-angle tangents of the interior angles of a class of similar Heronian triangles.[17] The condition

tu+uv+vt=1

can be rearranged to v = \frac, and the restriction

v>0

requires

tu<1.

Thus there is a bijection between the similarity classes of rational Heronian triangles and the pairs of positive rational numbers

(t,u)

whose product is less than .

To make this bijection explicit, one can choose, as a specific member of the similarity class, the triangle inscribed in a unit-diameter circle with side lengths equal to the sines of the opposite angles:[18]

\begin{align} a&=\sin\alpha=

2t
1+t2

,&s-a=

2u(1-tu)
(1+t2)(1+u2)

,\\[5mu] b&=\sin\beta=

2u
1+u2

,&s-b=

2t(1-tu)
(1+t2)(1+u2)

,\\[5mu] c&=\sin\gamma=

2(t+u)(1-tu)
(1+t2)(1+u2)

, &s-c=

2tu(t+u)
(1+t2)(1+u2)

,\\[5mu] &&s=

2(t+u)
(1+t2)(1+u2)

,\\ A&=

4tu(t+u)(1-tu)
(1+t2)2(1+u2)2

,&r=

2tu(1-tu)
(1+t2)(1+u2)

, \end{align}

where

s=\tfrac12(a+b+c)

is the semiperimeter,

A=\tfrac12ab\sin\gamma

is the area,

r=\sqrt{\tfrac{(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)}{s}}

is the inradius, and all these values are rational because

t

and

u

are rational.

To obtain an (integral) Heronian triangle, the denominators of,, and must be cleared. There are several ways to do this. If

t=m/n

and

u=p/q,

with

\gcd(m,n)=\gcd(p,q)=1

(irreducible fractions), and the triangle is scaled up by

\tfrac12(m2+n2)(p2+q2),

the result is Euler's parametrization. If

t=m/k

and

u=n/k

with

\gcd(m,n,k)=1

(lowest common denomimator), and the triangle is scaled up by

(k2+m2)(k2+n2)/2k,

the result is similar but not quite identical to Brahmagupta's parametrization. If, instead, this is

1/t

and

1/u

that are reduced to the lowest common denominator, that is, if

t=k/m

and

u=k/n

with

\gcd(m,n,k)=1,

then one gets exactly Brahmagupta's parametrization by scaling up the triangle by

(k2+m2)(k2+n2)/2k.

This proves that either parametrization generates all Heronian triangles.

Other results

has derived fast algorithms for generating Heronian triangles.

r

and all three of the exradii

(ra,rb,rc)

, including the ones generated by[19]

\begin{align} a&=5(5n2+n-1),&ra&=5n+3,\\ b&=(5n+3)(5n2-4n+1),&rb&=5n2+n-1,\\ c&=(5n-2)(5n2+6n+2),&rc&=(5n-2)(5n+3)(5n2+n-1),\\ &&r&=5n-2,\\ A&=(5n-2)(5n+3)(5n2+n-1)=rc. \end{align}

There are infinitely many Heronian triangles that can be placed on a lattice such that not only are the vertices at lattice points, as holds for all Heronian triangles, but additionally the centers of the incircle and excircles are at lattice points.[19] See also for parametrizations of some types of Heronian triangles.

Examples

The list of primitive integer Heronian triangles, sorted by area and, if this is the same,by perimeter, starts as in the following table."Primitive" means that the greatest common divisor of the three side lengths equals 1.

AreaPerimeterside length b+dside length eside length c
612543
1216655
1218855
243215134
303013125
363617109
365426253
424220157
6036131310
604017158
6050241313
606029256
6644201311
726430295
8442151413
8448211710
845625247
847235298
9054251712
9010853514
11476372019
12050171716
12064301717
12080392516
12654212013
12684412815
12610852515
13266302511
15678372615
156104514013
16864252514
16884393510
16898482525
18080373013
1809041409
198132655512
20468262517
21070292120
21070282517
21084392817
21084373512
21014068657
2103001491483
21616280739
234108524115
24090403713
25284353415
25298454013
25214470659
26496443715
264132653433
270108522927
288162806517
300150745125
3002501231225
306108513720
330100443917
330110523325
330132616011
33022010910011
33698414017
336112533524
336128615215
3363921951934
36090362925
360100414118
360162804141
390156756813
396176875534
396198979011
39624212010913
The list of primitive Heronian triangles whose sides do not exceed 6,000,000 has been computed by .

Heronian triangles with perfect square sides

Heronian triangles with perfect square sides are related to the Perfect cuboid problem. As of February 2021, only two primitive Heronian triangles with perfect square sides are known:

(1853², 4380², 4427², Area=32918611718880), published in 2013.[20]

(11789², 68104², 68595², Area=284239560530875680), published in 2018.[21]

Equable triangles

A shape is called equable if its area equals its perimeter. There are exactly five equable Heronian triangles: the ones with side lengths (5,12,13), (6,8,10), (6,25,29), (7,15,20), and (9,10,17), though only four of them are primitive.

Almost-equilateral Heronian triangles

Since the area of an equilateral triangle with rational sides is an irrational number, no equilateral triangle is Heronian. However, a sequence of isosceles Heronian triangles that are "almost equilateral" can be developed from the duplication of right-angled triangles, in which the hypotenuse is almost twice as long as one of the legs. The first few examples of these almost-equilateral triangles are listed in the following table :

Side length Area
a b=a c
5 5 6 12
17 17 16 120
65 65 66 1848
241 241 240 25080
901 901 902 351780
3361 3361 3360 4890480
12545 12545 12546 68149872
46817 46817 46816 949077360

There is a unique sequence of Heronian triangles that are "almost equilateral" because the three sides are of the form n − 1, n, n + 1. A method for generating all solutions to this problem based on continued fractions was described in 1864 by Edward Sang,[22] and in 1880 Reinhold Hoppe gave a closed-form expression for the solutions.[23] The first few examples of these almost-equilateral triangles are listed in the following table :

Side length Area Inradius
n − 1 n n + 1
3 4 5 6 1
13 14 15 84 4
51 52 53 1170 15
193 194 195 16296 56
723 724 725 226974 209
2701 2702 2703 3161340 780
10083 10084 10085 44031786 2911
37633 37634 37635 613283664 10864

Subsequent values of n can be found by multiplying the previous value by 4, then subtracting the value prior to that one (52 = 4 × 14 − 4, 194 = 4 × 52 − 14, etc.), thus:

nt=4nt-1-nt-2,

where t denotes any row in the table. This is a Lucas sequence. Alternatively, the formula

(2+\sqrt{3})t+(2-\sqrt{3})t

generates all n for positive integers t. Equivalently, let A = area and y = inradius, then,

((n-1)2+n2+(n+1)2)2-2((n-1)4+n4+(n+1)4)=(6ny)2=(4A)2

where are solutions to n2 − 12y2 = 4. A small transformation n = 2x yields a conventional Pell equation x2 − 3y2 = 1, the solutions of which can then be derived from the regular continued fraction expansion for .

The variable n is of the form

n=\sqrt{2+2k}

, where k is 7, 97, 1351, 18817, .... The numbers in this sequence have the property that k consecutive integers have integral standard deviation.[24]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Sastry . K. R. S. . 2001 . Heron triangles: A Gergonne-Cevian-and-median perspective . . 1 . 2001 . 17–24 .
  2. The sides and area of any triangle satisfy the Diophantine equation obtained by squaring both sides of Heron's formula; see . Conversely, consider a solution of the equation where

    (a,b,c,A)

    are all positive integers. It corresponds to a valid triangle if and only if the triangle inequality is satisfied, that is, if the three integers

    a+b-c,

    b+c-a,

    and

    c+a-b

    are all positive. This is necessarily true in this case: if any of these sums were negative or zero, the other two would be positive and the right-hand side of the equation would thus be negative or zero and could not possibly equal the left-hand side

    16A2,

    which is positive.
  3. Web site: Somos. M.. Michael Somos. Rational triangles. December 2014. 2018-11-04. 2021-12-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20211220133826/http://grail.eecs.csuohio.edu/~somos/rattri.html. dead.
  4. Mitchell, Douglas W. (2013), "Perpendicular Bisectors of Triangle Sides", Forum Geometricorum 13, 53−59: Theorem 2.
  5. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0803/0803.3778.pdf Zelator, K., "Triangle Angles and Sides in Progression and the diophantine equation x2+3y2=z2", Cornell Univ. archive, 2008
  6. Bailey, Herbert, and DeTemple, Duane, "Squares inscribed in angles and triangles", Mathematics Magazine 71(4), 1998, 278–284.
  7. [Clark Kimberling]
  8. Clark Kimberling's Encyclopedia of Triangle Centers Web site: Encyclopedia of Triangle Centers . 2012-06-17 .
  9. Yiu . Paul . 2001. Heronian triangles are lattice triangles. The American Mathematical Monthly. 108. 3. 261-263. 10.1080/00029890.2001.11919751.
  10. Buchholz . Ralph H. . MacDougall . James A. . Cyclic Polygons with Rational Sides and Area . . 128. 1. 17-48. 10.1016/j.jnt.2007.05.005. free.
  11. On Heron Simplices and Integer Embedding . Fricke . Jan . 2002-12-21 . math/0112239.
  12. Proof. One can suppose that the Heronian triangle is primitive. The right-hand side of the Diophantine equation can be rewritten as

    ((a+b)2-c2)(c2-(a-b)2).

    If an odd length is chosen for, all squares are odd, and therefore of the form

    8k+1;

    and the two differences are multiple of . So

    16A2

    is multiple of, and is even. For the divisibility by three, one chooses as non-multiple of (the triangle is supposed to be primitive). If one of

    a+b

    and

    a-b

    is not a multiple of, the corresponding factor is a nultiple of (since the square of a non-multiple of has the form

    3k+1

    ), and this implies that is a divisor of

    16A2.

    Otherwise, would divide both

    a+b

    and

    a-b,

    and the right-hand side of the Diophantine would not be the square of

    4A,

    as being congruent to minus times a square modulo . So this last case is impossible.
  13. Proof. Supposing

    a\geb\gec,

    the triangle inequality implies

    b\lea\leb+c.

    If

    c=1,

    this implies that

    a=b,

    and the condition that there is exactly one even side length cannot be fulfilled. If

    c=2,

    one has two even side lengths if

    a=b+1.

    So,

    a=b,

    and the Diophantine equation becomes

    16A2=16(a2-1),

    which is impossible for two positive integers.
  14. Heron Quadrilaterals with sides in Arithmetic or Geometric progression . Buchholz . Ralph H. . MacDougall . James A. . Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society . 263–269 . 59 . 1999 . 2 . 10.1017/s0004972700032883. free . 1959.13/803798 . free .
  15. On Triangles with Rational Sides and Having Rational Areas . Blichfeldt . H. F. . Annals of Mathematics . 11 . 1/6 . 1896–1897 . 57–60 . 1967214 . 10.2307/1967214 .
  16. Kurz . Sascha . 1401.6150 . 2 . Serdica Journal of Computing . 2473583 . 181–196 . On the generation of Heronian triangles . 2 . 2008 . 10.55630/sjc.2008.2.181-196 . 2014arXiv1401.6150K . 16060132 . .
  17. Cheney . William Fitch Jr. . 1929 . Heronian Triangles . American Mathematical Monthly . 36 . 1 . 22–28 . 10.1080/00029890.1929.11986902 .
  18. Kocik . Jerzy . Solecki . Andrzej . 2009 . Disentangling a triangle . American Mathematical Monthly . 116 . 3 . 228–237 . 10.1080/00029890.2009.11920932. 28155804 .
  19. Zhou, Li, "Primitive Heronian Triangles With Integer Inradius and Exradii", Forum Geometricorum 18, 2018, 71-77. http://forumgeom.fau.edu/FG2018volume18/FG201811.pdf
  20. Stănică . Pantelimon . Sarkar . Santanu . Sen Gupta . Sourav . Maitra . Subhamoy . Kar . Nirupam . 10945/38838 . Integers . 3083465 . Paper No. A3, 17pp . Counting Heron triangles with constraints . 13 . 2013.
  21. Web site: LISTSERV - NMBRTHRY Archives - LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU .
  22. . See in particular p. 734.
  23. .
  24. Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, .