Let
be a right triangle in which
, and let
be the foot of the altitude from
. The segment
contains two special points: the symmedian point (
), and the Kosnita point (
). We show an example where
and
divide
harmonically.










Given
with vertices located at
,
, and
, find the symmedian point.




Observe that the given triangle is right-angled at . Further, in a right triangle, the symmedian point is the midpoint of the right-angled vertex and the foot of the altitude from the right-angled vertex. In a previous post, we found the foot of the altitude from
to be
. Thus, the symmedian point in this case is
.
Given
with vertices located at
,
, and
, verify that
and
divide
harmonically, where
is the Kosnita point,
is the symmedian point, and
is the foot of the altitude from
.











We have ,
,
, and
.
Explicit calculation gives
Thus and
divide
harmonically, since:
Takeaway
In any right triangle, the following statements are equivalent:
- the right triangle is isosceles
- the Kosnita point coincides with the centroid.
Task
- (Equivalent statements) Let
be a non-right triangle. PROVE that the three statements below are equivalent:
- (Equal steps) Suppose that triangle
satisfies any of the three equivalent statements above. In such a triangle, let
be the foot of the symmedian from
, and let
be the feet of the altitudes from
in that order. PROVE that
.