The Symmedian Point: Constructed and Applied

by Robert K. Smither

This article originally appeared in:
College Mathematics Journal
March, 2011

Subject classification(s): Geometry and Topology | Plane Geometry | Triangles
Applicable Course(s): 4.9 Geometry

The author relates a personal story of a post-WWII assignment in the U.S. Navy. His analysis of data from a test of a harbor mine-detecting algorithm leads to a novel construction of the symmedian point - the point that minimizes the sum of the squares of the distances to the sides of a triangle.

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