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Dan Reznik

Publications and source records attributed to Dan Reznik.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Related by Similiarity: Poristic Triangles and 3-Periodics in the Elliptic Billiard

Discovered by William Chapple in 1746, the Poristic family is a set of variable-perimeter triangles with common Incircle and Circumcircle. By definition, the family has constant Inradius-to-Circumradius ratio. Interestingly, this invariance also holds for the family of 3-periodics in the Elliptic Billiard, though here Inradius and Circumradius are variable and perimeters are constant. Indeed, we show one family is mapped onto the other via a varying similarity transform. This implies that any scale-free quantities and invariants observed in one family must hold on the other.

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Circum- and Inconic Invariants of 3-Periodics in the Elliptic Billiard

A Circumconic passes through a triangle's vertices; an Inconic is tangent to the sidelines. We study the variable geometry of certain conics derived from the 1d family of 3-periodics in the Elliptic Billiard. Some display intriguing invariances such as aspect ratio and pairwise ratio of focal lengths.

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The Ballet of Triangle Centers on the Elliptic Billiard

The dynamic geometry of the family of 3-periodics in the Elliptic Billiard is mystifying. Besides conserving perimeter and the ratio of inradius-to-circumradius, it has a stationary point. Furthermore, its triangle centers sweep out mesmerizing loci including ellipses, quartics, circles, and a slew of other more complex curves. Here we explore a bevy of new phenomena relating to (i) the shape of 3-periodics and (ii) the kinematics of certain Triangle Centers constrained to the Billiard boundary, specifically the non-monotonic motion some can display with respect to 3-periodics. Hypnotizing is the joint motion of two such non-monotonic Centers, whose many stops-and-gos are akin to a Ballet.

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Can the Elliptic Billiard Still Surprise Us?

Can any secrets still be shed by that much studied, uniquely integrable, Elliptic Billiard? Starting by examining the family of 3-periodic trajectories and the loci of their Triangular Centers, one obtains a beautiful and variegated gallery of curves: ellipses, quartics, sextics, circles, and even a stationary point. Secondly, one notices this family conserves an intriguing ratio: Inradius-to-Circumradius. In turn this implies three conservation corollaries: (i) the sum of bounce angle cosines, (ii) the product of excentral cosines, and (iii) the ratio of excentral-to-orbit areas. Monge's Orthoptic Circle's close relation to 4-periodic Billiard trajectories is well-known. Its geometry provided clues with which to generalize 3-periodic invariants to trajectories of an arbitrary number of edges. This was quite unexpected. Indeed, the Elliptic Billiard did surprise us!

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