IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joptap/v170y2016i1d10.1007_s10957-016-0911-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Optimality of Napoleon Triangles

Author

Listed:
  • Omur Arslan

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Daniel E. Koditschek

    (University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

An elementary geometric construction, known as Napoleon’s theorem, produces an equilateral triangle, obtained from equilateral triangles erected on the sides of any initial triangle: The centers of the three equilateral triangles erected on the sides of the arbitrarily given original triangle, all outward or all inward, are the vertices of the new equilateral triangle. In this note, we observe that two Napoleon iterations yield triangles with useful optimality properties. Two inner transformations result in a (degenerate) triangle, whose vertices coincide at the original centroid. Two outer transformations yield an equilateral triangle, whose vertices are closest to the original in the sense of minimizing the sum of the three squared distances.

Suggested Citation

  • Omur Arslan & Daniel E. Koditschek, 2016. "On the Optimality of Napoleon Triangles," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 97-106, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joptap:v:170:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10957-016-0911-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10957-016-0911-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10957-016-0911-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10957-016-0911-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yaakov S. Kupitz & Horst Martini & Margarita Spirova, 2013. "The Fermat–Torricelli Problem, Part I: A Discrete Gradient-Method Approach," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 305-327, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amir Beck & Shoham Sabach, 2015. "Weiszfeld’s Method: Old and New Results," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 1-40, January.
    2. Simeon Reich & Truong Minh Tuyen, 2023. "The Generalized Fermat–Torricelli Problem in Hilbert Spaces," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 196(1), pages 78-97, January.
    3. Thomas Jahn & Yaakov S. Kupitz & Horst Martini & Christian Richter, 2015. "Minsum Location Extended to Gauges and to Convex Sets," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 711-746, September.
    4. Simone Görner & Christian Kanzow, 2016. "On Newton’s Method for the Fermat–Weber Location Problem," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 107-118, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joptap:v:170:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10957-016-0911-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.