The aim of this note is to prove a result related to the Fermat-Torricelli point for a class of polygons The French mathematician Pierre Fermat (1601-1665) proposed at the end of his book Treatise on Minima and Maxima the search for a point T in the plane of a triangle ΔABC for which the sum T A + T B + T C of the distances from T to the vertices is minimum. As the problem was first proved by the Italian scientist Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647), the point T is sometimes called the Fermat-Torricelli point. The geometric construction of the Fermat-Torricelli point can be found in many textbooks, the most well known being that which uses the equilateral triangles constructed on the sides of the given triangle. If all angles of the given triangles are smaller than or equal to 2π/3, then ∠AT B = ∠BT C = ∠CT A = 2π 3 .
Discover the world's research