English

The dual of Philo's shortest line segment problem

Computational Geometry 2025-02-18 v7

Abstract

We study the dual of Philo's shortest line segment problem and find the optimal line segments passing through two given points, with a common endpoint, and with the other endpoints on a given line. This problem is dual, in a point-and-line-exchanging sense, to a famous problem of antiquity used to solve the problem of duplicating the cube. The provided solution uses multivariable calculus and elementary geometry methods. Interesting connections with the angle bisector of the triangle are explored. A generalization of the problem using lpl_p (p1p\ge 1) norm is proposed. The particular case p=p=\infty is also studied. It is shown that in the cases p=0p=0 and p=2p=2 the median and the symedian, respectively, of a triangle do not always give a solution for the corresponding optimization problems. The general case p1p\ne 1 and related problems are proposed as open problems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2406.05702,
  title  = {The dual of Philo's shortest line segment problem},
  author = {Yagub N. Aliyev},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.05702},
  year   = {2025}
}