A triangle (black) with incircle (blue), incenter (I),

excircles (orange), excenters (J

A
,J
B
,J
C
), internal
angle bisectors (red) and external angle bisectors
(green)
Incircle and excircles of a triangle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Incircle redirects here. For incircles of non-triangle polygons, see Tangential quadrilateral or
Tangential polygon.
In geometry, the incircle or inscribed circle of a triangle is
the largest circle contained in the triangle; it touches (is
tangent to) the three sides. The center of the incircle is
called the triangle's incenter.
An excircle or escribed circle of the triangle is a circle
lying outside the triangle, tangent to one of its sides and
tangent to the extensions of the other two. Every triangle
has three distinct excircles, each tangent to one of the
triangle's sides.
The center of the incircle can be found as the intersection of
the three internal angle bisectors. The center of an excircle
is the intersection of the internal bisector of one angle and
the external bisectors of the other two. Because the internal
bisector of an angle is perpendicular to its external bisector,
it follows that the center of the incircle together with the
three excircle centers form an orthocentric system.
See also Tangent lines to circles.
Contents
1 Relation to area of the triangle
2 Nine-point circle and Feuerbach point
3 Gergonne triangle and point
4 Nagel triangle and point
5 Coordinates of the incenter
6 Equations for four circles
7 Euler's theorem
8 Other incircle properties
9 Other excircle properties
10 Incircle in a quadrilateral
11 See also
12 References
13 External links
13.1 Interactive
Relation to area of the triangle
The radii of the incircles and excircles are closely related to the area of the triangle.
[1]
Suppose has an
incircle with radius r and center I. Let a be the length of BC, b the length of AC, and c the length of AB. Now, the
incircle is tangent to AB at some point C, and so is right. Thus the radius C'I is an altitude of .
Therefore has base length a and height r, and so has area . Similarly, has area and
has area . Since these three triangles decompose , we see that
where is the area of and is its semiperimeter.
The radii in the excircles are called the exradii. Let the excircle at side AB touch at side AC extended at G, and let
this excircle's radius be and its center be . Then is an altitude of , so has area
. By a similar argument, has area and has area . Thus
.
So, by symmetry,
.
By the law of cosines, we have
Combining this with the identity , we have
But , and so
which is Heron's formula.
Combining this with , we have
.
Similarly, gives
.
From these formulas one can see that the excircles are always larger than the incircle and that the largest excircle is
the one tangent to the longest side and the smallest excircle is tangent to the shortest side. Further, combining these
formulas formula yields:
[2]
The ratio of the area of the incircle to the area of the triangle is less than or equal to , with equality holding
only for equilateral triangles.
[3]
Nine-point circle and Feuerbach point
The circle tangent to all three of the excircles as well as the incircle is known as the nine-point circle. The point
where the nine-point circle touches the incircle is known as the Feuerbach point.
Gergonne triangle and point
The Gergonne triangle(of ABC) is defined by the 3 touchpoints of the incircle on the 3 sides. Those vertices are
denoted as T
A
, etc. The point that T
A
denotes, lies opposite to A.
This Gergonne triangle T
A
T
B
T
C
is also known as the contact triangle or intouch triangle of ABC.
The three lines AT
A
, BT
B
and CT
C
intersect in a single point called Gergonne point, denoted as Ge - X(7).
A triangle, ABC, with incircle (blue),
incenter (blue, I), contact triangle (red,
T
a
T
b
T
c
) and Gergonne point (green, Ge)
Interestingly, the Gergonne point of a triangle is the symmedian point of the Gergonne triangle. For a full set of
properties of the Gergonne point see.
[4]
The touchpoints of the three excircles with segments BC,CA and AB are the vertices of the extouch triangle. The
points of intersection of the interior angle bisectors of ABC with the segments BC,CA,AB are the vertices of the
incentral triangle.
Nagel triangle and point
The Nagel triangle of ABC is denoted by the vertices X
A
, X
B
and
X
C
that are the three points where the excircles touch the reference
triangle ABC and where X
A
is opposite of A, etc. This triangle
X
A
X
B
X
C
is also known as the extouch triangle of ABC. The
circumcircle of the extouch triangle X
A
X
B
X
C
is called the Mandart
circle. The three lines AX
A
, BX
B
and CX
C
are called the splitters of
the triangle; they each bisect the perimeter of the triangle, and they
intersect in a single point, the triangle's Nagel point Na - X(8).
Trilinear coordinates for the vertices of the intouch triangle are given
by
Trilinear coordinates for the vertices of the extouch triangle are given
by
Trilinear coordinates for the vertices of the incentral triangle are given by
Trilinear coordinates for the vertices of the excentral triangle are given by
Trilinear coordinates for the Gergonne point are given by
,
or, equivalently, by the Law of Sines,
.
Trilinear coordinates for the Nagel point are given by
,
or, equivalently, by the Law of Sines,
.
It is the isotomic conjugate of the Gergonne point.
Coordinates of the incenter
The Cartesian coordinates of the incenter are a weighted average of the coordinates of the three vertices using the
side lengths of the triangle as weights. (The weights are positive so the incenter lies inside the triangle as stated
above.) If the three vertices are located at , , and , and the sides opposite these
vertices have corresponding lengths , , and , then the incenter is at
where
Trilinear coordinates for the incenter are given by
Barycentric coordinates for the incenter are given by
or equivalently
Equations for four circles
Let x : y : z be a variable point in trilinear coordinates, and let u = cos
2
(A/2), v = cos
2
(B/2), w = cos
2
(C/2). The
four circles described above are given by these equations:
Incircle:
A-excircle:
B-excircle:
C-excircle:
Euler's theorem
Euler's theorem states that in a triangle:
where R and r
in
are the circumradius and inradius respectively, and d is the distance between the circumcenter and
the incenter.
For excircles the equation is similar:
where r
ex
is the radius one of the excircles, and d is the distance between the circumcenter and this excircle's
center.
[5]

[6]

[7]
Other incircle properties
Suppose the tangency points of the incircle divide the sides into lengths of x and y, y and z, and z and x. Then the
incircle has the radius
[8]
and the area of the triangle is
If the altitudes from sides of lengths a, b, and c are h
a
, h
b
, and h
c
then the inradius r is one-third of the harmonic
mean of these altitudes, i.e.
The product of the incircle radius r and the circumcircle radius R of a triangle with sides a, b, and c is
[9]
Some relations among the sides, incircle radius, and circumcircle radius are:
[10]
Any line through a triangle that splits both the triangle's area and its perimeter in half goes through the triangle's
incenter (the center of its incircle). There are either one, two, or three of these for any given triangle.
[11]
The distance from the incenter to the centroid is less than one third the length of the longest median of the
triangle.
[12]
Denoting the distance from the incenter to the Euler line as d, the length of the longest median as v, the length of the
longest side as u, and the semiperimeter as s, the following inequalities hold:
[12]
Denoting the center of the incircle of triangle ABC as I, we have
[13]
Other excircle properties
The circular hull of the excircles is internally tangent to each of the excircles, and thus is an Apollonius circle.
[14]
The
radius of this Apollonius circle is where r is the incircle radius and s is the semiperimeter of the
triangle.
[15]
The following relations hold among the inradius r, the circumradius R, the semiperimeter s, and the excircle radii r
'a
,
r
b
, r
c
:
[10]
The circle through the centers of the three excircles has radius 2R.
[10]
If H is the orthocenter of triangle ABC, then
[10]
Incircle in a quadrilateral
Some (but not all) quadrilaterals have an incircle. These are called tangential quadrilaterals. Among their many
properties perhaps the most important is that their opposite sides have equal sums. This is called the Pitot theorem.
See also
Altitude (triangle)
Circumscribed circle
Ex-tangential quadrilateral
Harcourt's theorem
Inscribed sphere
Power of a point
Steiner inellipse
Tangential quadrilateral
Triangle center
References
1. ^ Coxeter, H.S.M. "Introduction to Geometry 2nd ed. Wiley, 1961.
2. ^ Baker, Marcus, "A collection of formulae for the area of a plane triangle," Annals of Mathematics, part 1 in vol.
1(6), January 1885, 134-138. (See also part 2 in vol. 2(1), September 1885, 11-18.)
3. ^ Minda, D., and Phelps, S., "Triangles, ellipses, and cubic polynomials", American Mathematical Monthly 115,
October 2008, 679-689: Theorem 4.1.
4. ^ Dekov, Deko (2009). "Computer-generated Mathematics : The Gergonne Point"
(http://www.dekovsoft.com/j/2009/01/JCGEG200901.pdf). Journal of Computer-generated Euclidean Geometry 1:
114.
5. ^ Nelson, Roger, "Euler's triangle inequality via proof without words," Mathematics Magazine 81(1), February
2008, 58-61.
6. ^ Johnson, R. A. Modern Geometry, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1929: p. 187.
7. ^ Emelyanov, Lev, and Emelyanova, Tatiana. "Eulers formula and Poncelets porism", Forum Geometricorum 1,
2001: pp. 137140. (http://forumgeom.fau.edu/FG2001volume1/FG200120.pdf)
8. ^ Chu, Thomas, The Pentagon, Spring 2005, p. 45, problem 584.
9. ^ Johnson, Roger A., Advanced Euclidean Geometry, Dover, 2007 (orig. 1929), p. 189, #298(d).
10. ^
a

b

c

d
Bell, Amy, "Hansens right triangle theorem, its converse and a generalization", Forum Geometricorum 6,
2006, 335342. (http://forumgeom.fau.edu/FG2006volume6/FG200639.pdf)
11. ^ Kodokostas, Dimitrios, "Triangle Equalizers," Mathematics Magazine 83, April 2010, pp. 141-146.
12. ^
a

b
Franzsen, William N.. "The distance from the incenter to the Euler line", Forum Geometricorum 11 (2011):
231236. (http://forumgeom.fau.edu/FG2011volume11/FG201126.pdf)
13. ^ Allaire, Patricia R.; Zhou, Junmin; and Yao, Haishen, "Proving a nineteenth century ellipse identity",
Mathematical Gazette 96, March 2012, 161-165.
14. ^ Grinberg, Darij, and Yiu, Paul, "The Apollonius Circle as a Tucker Circle", Forum Geometricorum 2, 2002: pp.
175-182. (http://forumgeom.fau.edu/FG2002volume2/FG200222.pdf)
15. ^ Stevanovic, Milorad R., "The Apollonius circle and related triangle centers", Forum Geometricorum 3, 2003,
187-195. (http://forumgeom.fau.edu/FG2003volume3/FG200320.pdf)
Clark Kimberling, "Triangle Centers and Central Triangles," Congressus Numerantium 129 (1998) i-xxv
and 1-295.
Sndor Kiss, "The Orthic-of-Intouch and Intouch-of-Orthic Triangles," Forum Geometricorum 6 (2006)
171-177.
External links
Derivation of formula for radius of incircle of a triangle (http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/derivation-of-
formulas/derivation-of-formula-for-radius-of-incircle)
Weisstein, Eric W., "Incircle (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Incircle.html)", MathWorld.
Interactive
Triangle incenter (http://www.mathopenref.com/triangleincenter.html) Triangle incircle
(http://www.mathopenref.com/triangleincircle.html) Incircle of a regular polygon
(http://www.mathopenref.com/polygonincircle.html) With interactive animations
Constructing a triangle's incenter / incircle with compass and straightedge
(http://www.mathopenref.com/constincircle.html) An interactive animated demonstration
Equal Incircles Theorem (http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/Geometry/AdjacentIncircles.shtml) at cut-
the-knot
Five Incircles Theorem (http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/Geometry/FourIncircles.shtml) at cut-the-
knot
Pairs of Incircles in a Quadrilateral (http://www.cut-the-
knot.org/Curriculum/Geometry/IncirclesInQuadri.shtml) at cut-the-knot
An interactive Java applet for the incenter (http://www.uff.br/trianglecenters/X0001.html)
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Categories: Circles Triangle geometry
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