Poles and Polars

Irvington Math Club

October 22, 2015

Abstract
The goal of this handout is to provide the reader with some of the intuition and common
techniques for solving problems by poles and polars. I would like to thank Alexander Remorov
and Yufei Zhao for publishing some amazing projective geometry handouts that helped in making
this handout, as well as Yiwen Dai for providing helpful feedback.

In short, poles and polars are usually involved in problems asking you to prove collinearity, per-
pendicularity, and that’s about it. Cool, let’s get started!

1 Poles and Polars: Definitions

Suppose that ω is a circle with center O. Then for any point P in the same plane as ω, we can
define something called the inverse of point P with respect to (w.r.t.) circle ω.
Definition 1.1 (The inversive transformation). If ω is a circle with center O and radius r, and P
is a point 6= O, then we define the inverse of point P , P 0 with respect to circle ω to be the point
−−→
on the ray OP such that
OP · OP 0 = r2 .
Next, we define poles and polars.
Definition 1.2 (Poles and Polars). We define the polar of point P w.r.t. ω to be the line p
−−→
perpendicular to the ray OP at P 0 , the inverse of P w.r.t. ω. P is called the pole of line p w.r.t.
ω.
In the following diagram, P would be the pole of line p with respect to ω.

ω p

O P0 P

Figure 1: P is the pole of p, and p is the polar of P .

Basically, If you want to prove something about the polar of a point, it suffices to prove it for
its pole. There will be examples of this later on.
I stress: Poles are POINTS, Polars are LINES.
I repeat! Poles are POINTS, Polars are LINES

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3 Poles and Polars: Theorems Tyler Zhu

2 Poles and Polars: Configurations

Now, we must establish some well known configurations regarding poles and polars. Know these
well as they will come up again and again.
Lemma 2.1. If P lies outside of circle ω, then the polar of P w.r.t. ω is the line determined by
the tangency points of the tangents from P to ω. In other words, if the tangents from P to ω are
P E and P F , then the polar of P would be EF .

l E
Polar E ω

Pole O
P X
Pole
F F
Polar

Figure 2: Lemma 2.1 Figure 3: Lemma 2.2

Lemma 2.2. If a line l lies outside of circle ω with center O, then the pole of line l w.r.t. ω can be
found as follows. Construct a perpendicular from the center of ω to line l, and call the foot of the
−−→
perpendicular X. Then, the pole of l is the intersection point of the polar of X and the ray OX.

3 Poles and Polars: Theorems

Theorem 1 (La Hire’s). If a point X lies on the polar of point Y with respect to ω, then the point
Y lies on the polar of point X with respect to ω.
This theorem is more of a helping ”tool” than a theorem. It often lets us compare two points
or lines to a common polar or pole, which will usually give us our desired concurrency or perpen-
dicularity. If this doesn’t make sense yet, then read the examples below.
R

Theorem 2 (Brokard’s with a K). The points

A, B, C, D lie in this order on circle ω with center O.
AC and BD intersect at P, AB and DC intersect at
Q, AD and BC intersect at R. Then O is the
orthocentera of 4P QR. Furthermore, QR is the
polar of P, P Q is the polar of R, and P R is the polar A
of Q w.r.t. ω. B
P Q
a
The orthocenter of triangle ABC is the intersection of the O
C
altitudes of the triangle.

D
This theorem is a powerful one! Make sure you know this by heart, as its proof is rather ad-
vanced. Most projective geometry problems come down to finding the correct configurations to
apply Brokard’s to, so make sure to ”complete” the diagram if you are ever stuck! See the exam-
ples below for what I mean by completing the diagram.

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4 Trivial Examples Tyler Zhu

4 Trivial Examples
Example 4.1: Let A, B, C, D be points on a circle in that order, and let P be the intersection of
AB and CD. Let P E and P F be tangents to the circle. Prove AC, BD, EF are concurrent.

E
A
B
P
X

C
D F

Proof. We first let the intersection of AC and BD be X, so that we want to prove that X lies on
EF . Since P is the intersection of the tangents at E and F , EF is the polar of P . Now at this
point, there isn’t much information left for us to find, so we decide to complete the diagram.
Seeing that the circle and the lines AP , DP remind us of Brokard’s Theorem, we complete the
diagram by extending AD and BC to meet at Q. By Brokard’s, XQ is the polar of P . However,
we already found that EF is the polar of P , which means that EF and XQ are the same line.
Therefore, X must lie on EF , finishing our proof.

One-Liner. X lies on the polar of P by Brokards, but EF is the polar of P , implying that it must
go through X.

Example 4.2: Let U V be a diameter of a semicircle, and let P, Q are two points on the semicircle.
The tangents to the semicircle at P and Q meet at R, and lines U P and V Q meet at S. Prove
that RS ⊥ U V .
S

R
P
Q

U T O
V

Proof. Seeing that R is the intersection of the tangents immediately makes us think of Lemma
2.1, which tells us that P Q is the polar of R, but there isn’t much else. To try and gain more
information, we, again, complete the diagram by extending P Q to meet U V at O. Aha! We
can now apply Brokard’s to our diagram to see that P O is the polar of S. Now, we want to prove
that RS is tangent to U V , and since U V is the same line as U O, we should somehow involve the
polar of O since that is perpendicular to U O. Wait a second...
By La Hire’s, we see that since O lies on the polar of R (O lies on P Q), then R lies on the polar
of O. Similarly, S lies on the polar of O. However, RS is the same line as said polar, yet the polar
is also perpendicular to U V . Therefore, RS ⊥ U V , concluding our proof.

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6 Nontrivial Problems Tyler Zhu

5 Trivial Problems
Problem 5.1: Let ABC be a triangle and I be its incenter. Let the incenter of ABC touch sides
BC, CA, AB at D, E, F respectively. Let S denote the intersection of lines EF and BC. Prove
that SI ⊥ AD.
Problem 5.2: A circle is inscribed in quadrilateral ABCD so that it touches sides AB, BC, CD, DA
at E, F, G, H respectively.

(a) Show that lines AC, EF , GH are concurrent. In fact, they concur at the pole of BD.

(b) Show that lines AC, BD, EG, F H are concurrent.

Problem 5.3 (China 1996): Let H be the orthocenter of triangle ABC. From A construct tangents
AP and AQ to the circle with diameter BC, where P, Q are the points of tangency. Prove that
P, H, Q are collinear.
Problem 5.4: Let ABC be a triangle. The incircle touches the side BC at A0 and the line AA0
meets the incircle again at a point P . Let the lines CP and BP meet the incircle of triangle ABC
again at N and M respectively. Prove that the lines AA0 , BN , and CM are concurrent.1

I
N Q M

C B
A0

6 Nontrivial Problems
Problem 6.1 (IMO 1985): A circle with center O passes through the vertices A and C of triangle
ABC and intersects segments AB and BC again at distinct points K and N , respectively. The
circumcircles of triangles ABC and KBN intersect at exactly two distinct points B and M . Prove
that ∠OM B = 90◦ .

M B

N
K

O
D A
C

Figure 4: Problem 6.1

1
Hint: Let Q be the intersection of BN and CM . We want to prove that Q lies on AA0 . Look familiar?