Butterfly Trigonometry

Butterflies in quadrilaterals are not much different from butterflies living in circles. And
the proof of their existence is readily reduced by affine transformation (shearing) to the
case oforthodiagonal quadrilaterals. Two additional (trigonometric) proofs supplied by
Sidney Kung (August 13, 2012) establish beyond any doubts the presence of butterflies in
orthodiagonal (hence, in other, too) quadrilateral.
Theorem
Through the intersection of the mutually perpendicular diagonals ,
of a convex quadrilateral , draw two lines and that
meet the sides of at , , , . If ,
, and if , then .
The first proof depends on a lemma proved elsewhere
Lemma 1
O RS
PQ RQSP AB CD
RQSP A B C D X = AD PQ
Y = CB PQ OP = OQ OX = OY
Let in , be a cevian through vertex . Introduce angles
and . Then
Proof 1 of Theorem
Apply the lemma to triangles , , and \(BOC):
(1)
(2)
(3)
Combining (1)-(3) we obtain
(4)
Similarly, applying Lemma to triangles , , and , we have
(5)
(6)
(7)
Combining (5)-(7) we obtain
RST RU R
= SRU = URT
= + .
sin(+)
RU
sin()
RT
sin()
RS
ROQ SOQ
= + ,
1
OC
sin()
OR
cos()
OQ
= + ,
1
OB
sin()
OS
cos()
OQ
= + .
sin(+)
OY
sin()
OC
sin()
OB
= sin()( ) + sin()( ).
sin(+)
OY
OQ sin()+OR cos()
OROQ
OQ sin()+OS cos()
OSOQ
SOP ROP AOD
= + ,
1
OD
sin()
OS
cos()
OP
= + ,
1
OA
sin()
OR
cos()
OP
= + .
sin(+)
OX
sin()
OD
sin()
OA
= sin()( ) + sin()( ).
(8)
Remembering that , a comparison of (4) and (8) shows that the right-hand sides
are equal, and so are the left-hand sides, implying .
Proof 2
Let and be points symmetric to and with respect to the line . Enlarging the left
portion of the diagram
= sin()( ) + sin()( ).
sin(+)
OX
OP sin()+OS cos()
OSOP
OP sin()+OR cos()
OPOR
OP = OQ
OX = OY
E F C B RS
let . being a reflection of , line bisects . Thus
(9)
Note that triangles and are co-side (implying they have the same altitude from
); itfollows that
(10)
Similarly, since triangles and share side ,
(11)
Multiplying (9), (10), and (11) gives
Thus, by the converse of Ceva's Theorem, , , and are concurrent. Since and
are on , and , must be the symmetric image of . So, .
References
1. Sidney Kung, A butterfly theorem for quadrilaterals, Math. Mag. 78 (2005), 314
AF OP = Z F B OP AOF
= .
AF
ZF
AO
OF
OFD OPD
O
= = .
DF
DP
1/2ODOF sin()
1/2ODOP sin()
OF sin()
OP sin()
OEP OEA OE
= .
PE
EA
OP sin()
OA sin()
= = 1.
AZ
ZF
DF
DP
PE
EA
AO
OF
OF
OP
OP
OA
AD OP EF X
Y PQ X EF Y X OX = OY