Geometry – Proving Points are Concyclic

analytic geometrycirclesgeometry

Show that the points $(9,1), (7,9), (-2,12), (6,10)$ are concyclic.

How can we prove that the given points are con-cyclic?

I know the fact the points are said to be concyclic if they lie on the same circle. I substituted the coordinates in the equation of circle and got $4$ equations:-

  • $(9-h)^2 + (1-k)^2 = r^2$
  • $ (7-h)^2 + (9-k)^2 = r^2$
  • $(-2-h)^2 + (-12-k)^2 = r^2$
  • $(6-h)^2 + (10-k)^2 = r^2$

Now, here picking the first three equations, I got the centre of circle as $(-8,1)$ and radius = $17$units.

I'm getting no idea what to do further. Is there any short method to solve the question? Please help me here.

Best Answer

Here's a completely different approach. We regard your 4 points as complex numbers $$z_1 = 9 + i,\ \ z_2 = 7 + 9i,\ \ z_3 = -2 + 12i, \ \ z_4 = 6 + 10i$$

and now we calculate the cross ratio of these points. It is a basic fact about the cross ratio that the cross ratio is real if and only if the points are either colinear or concyclic. They are clearly not colinear, just by looking at them, so if the cross ratio $$C(z_1, z_2, z_3, z_4) = \frac{(z_3-z_1)(z_4-z_2)}{(z_3 - z_2)(z_4-z_1)}$$

is real, then we're done. Plugging everything in, we have:$$C(z_1, z_2, z_3, z_4) = \frac{((-2+12i)-(9+i))((6+10i)-(7+9i))}{((-2+12i) -(7+9i))((6+10i)-(9+i))}=\frac{(-11+11i)(-1+i)}{(-9+3i)(-3+9i)}$$

which we can simplify down to

$$=\frac{11}{3}\frac{-2i}{-10i}$$ which is evidently real, since the i's cancel.

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