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AutoCAD 2

AutoCAD 2 - Sangaku & Geometrical Theorems


Introduction - In this lab you will use AutoCAD's precision and accuracy tools to explore some of the
intricacies of geometry.
Sangaku - Japanese Temple Geometry
In 1639, the ruling Tokugawa shogunate of Japan decreed a policy of strict isolation from the West which lasted until 1854 when Japan
was once again opened to the west by a fleet of US warships under the
command of Commodore Matthew C. Perry. During this period of
seclusion, many unique artistic, cultural and social traditions evolved
and flourished. One of the most elegant of these traditions is called sangaku or Japanese temple geometry. The word sangaku literally means
mathematical tablet.
Each wooden tablet was delicately inscribed or engraved with
geometric problems and hung under the eaves of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, possibly as a thanks to guiding spirits or as a challenge to
others. More than 880 wooden tablets survive from this period.
For additional information about Japanese Temple Geometry, see the May 1998 issue of Scientific American or visit their website at:
http://www.sciam.com

Educational Objectives
After completing this lab students should be able to:
1. Use AutoCAD's calculating tools to find the area of various regions or radii of circles.
2. Use the subtract option to modify solid regions.
3. Use AutoCAD's built in calculator.
4. Use the polyline

tool to create lines of a certain width.

5. Use the extend command to modify the dimensions of pre-drawn objects.

With its built-in accuracy and calculating tools, AutoCAD is an excellent program for exploring traditional Japanese Sangaku and creating your own.

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AutoCAD 2
Part A - Sangaku
Exercise 1a - This first problem is a simplified version of a Sangaku found on an 1824 tablet in the
Gumma prefecture of Japan. All three circles are tangent to each other and to the base line. Let R denote
the radii of the larger circles and r that of the smaller circle. Verify that = 4 r .

R
R r
R+r

1. Create a new AutoCAD file and draw a horizontal line with a length of 12 from the points (0,0) to
(12,0). If necessary scroll down on the canvas to see the line.
2. Draw a circle with a center of (4,4) and set the osnaps to make it tangent to the base line.
3. Use the Tan Tan Radius option to create a second circle to the right of the first circle that is tangent
to the line, tangent to the first circle and has a radius of 4.
4. Using the Tan Tan Tan option located under the circle option of the Draw menu to create a third
circle that is tangent to the first and second circles and also tangent to the base line. Does = 4 r ?

To prove this in general, we need to construct a special triangle.


5. Change the drawing color to red using the pull-down menu. Set the center osnap in the Drafting
settings window and connect the center of each circle using the line tool, to form a triangle.
6. Draw a line, which is the altitude of the triangle. You will need to set the Drafting snap settings to
center and midpoint if they aren t already set. The right half of the big triangle is a right triangle
with sides as indicated in the diagram.
For a challenge, apply the Pythagorean theorem to this right triangle to prove that
not use AutoCAD for this part.)

= 4 r in general. (Do

Exercise 1b - This is a Sangaku found on an 1824 tablet in the Gumma prefecture of Japan. All three
circles are tangent to each other and to the base line. According to the Sangaku, the radii of the three cir-

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AutoCAD 2
1
1
1
+
=
R2
R3 .
cles should satisfy: R1

R1 = 4
R2 = 2

R3

1. Create a new AutoCAD file and draw a horizontal line segment from (0,0) to (12,0). Scroll the canvas area to see the line, if you need to.
2. Draw a circle with the center (4,4) and set the tangent osnap. Make the circle tangent to the baseline. (Thus its radius will be 4.)
3. Use the Tan Tan Radius option to create a second circle that is tangent to the line, tangent to the
first circle and has a radius of 2.
4. Create a third circle which is tangent to the first and second circles and the base line.
5. For each circle draw a line from each center point to the corresponding perimeter. These lines will
be the circles radii.
6. Use AutoCAD s dimension tools to find the radii of each circle.
7. According to the Sangaku, we should find:
1
1
1
+
=
R3
4
2
Use AutoCAD s CAL command to verify this equation.
First show that the left hand side of the equation is:

1
1
+
= 1.20711
4
2
.

Then, using the value you found for R3, calculate 1/sqrt(R3). Is it the same?

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AutoCAD 2
Exercise 2 - This example is based on an 1803 sangaku found in Gumma Prefecture. The challenge is
to show that the center D of the smaller circle lies directly above the left base point B of the isosceles triangle.

1. Create a new AutoCAD drawing and turn on the Snaps and Grid using the F7 and F9 keys on the
back row of your keyboard. Go to the Drafting Settings and set the snap and grid spacing to .5
units.
2. Choose a point style that will clearly be visible. To do this go to the Format menu and choose the
Point style option. Then place points at (4,4), (7.66,4) and (10, 4) using the point command.
Using the text tool, label these points A, B, and C respectively.
3. Hit the F9 key to disable the snap. Draw a line between points A and B and draw another line
between points B and C.
4. You will need to use the near osnap to access these points by clicking as close to them as possible.
This is especially useful for the second point considering it doesn t lie on the grid!
5. Enable the Snap by pressing the F9 key. Draw a two-point (2p) circle through points A and C.
6. Change the drawing color to red using the pull-down menu at the top of the canvas area. Draw a
second circle (2p) through the first and second points using the endpoint osnap on both sides of the
first line. If you have the endpoint osnap selected in the Drafting settings you don t have to use the
endpoint osnap tool on the toolbar.

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AutoCAD 2

7. Hit F8 to enable ortho which constrains lines only to be drawn horizontally or vertically. Draw a
vertical line segment from the midpoint of the line segment BC using the midpoint osnap (if it isnt
already enabled) to any point above the circle. Label this point of intersection E. This will be the
axis of an isosceles triangle.

8. Change the color to green and use the line tool to draw an isosceles triangle through B, C, and E.
Use the intersection osnap to select E. Once the Triangle is drawn, erase the red axis.
9. Change the color to blue and draw a three-point circle (3p) in the upper portion of the large circle
that is tangent to the vertical line and both circles. Label its center D. Then draw a line from the
center of that circle to the left base-point of the isosceles triangle using the near osnap.
10. You may need to disable snap (F9) to get this point.
11. Change the color to magenta and use the dimensions angles tool to determine the angle between
the blue line and the diameter. Are they perpendicular?

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AutoCAD 2
Exercise 3
Open the file Miyagi contained in the AutoCAD file for this lab. This problem dated 1913 was found
inside the Miyagi Prefecture (temple) in Japan. Compare the radii of the red circles. The relationship is
R2 2 = R1R3

Part B - Geometrical Theorems


In this section we will demonstrate a number of famous mathematical theorems using AutoCAD's accuracy tools.

Exercise 4 -Trisection Theorem


In this exercise we will demonstrate the famous Trisection Theorem. If an arbitrary triangle ABC has all
three angles trisected, then an equilateral triangle is formed by the intersections of the trisectors.
1. Create a new AutoCAD drawing and type pline (polyline) in the command window. PLINE is
the written command for polyline.
2. Enter (0,0) as your starting point and type W for width when prompted by the command window.
3. Specify a starting width of 0.03 and hit return. Next specify an ending width of 0.03 and hit return.
4. Now that the width of your polyline is specified, specify (10,0) and (4,6) as the remaining two
sides of the triangle on the canvas and label its vertices A, B and C.
5. Draw a red circle of radius 1.5 centered on point A of the triangle. Do the same for the other two
vertices B and C using osnaps.
6. Use the Trim command to trim portions of the circles outside of the triangle off. Make the triangle
your cutting edge.
7. Change the point style (in the Format Menu) to an X style then type Divide in the command window to divide the red arc into three segments.
8. Change the drawing color to green and draw two lines from each vertex to the two points on the
trisecting arc of that angle as shown below. Use both endpoint and intersection osnaps under the
Tools menu and Drafting Settings option.

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9. Type Extend in the command window and select the triangle as the boundary edge. Next, select
the two lines from A to extend to the opposite side. Repeat this step for both the B and C vertices.
10.Change the drawing color to blue and use the polyline tool to draw a triangle whose vertices are
three, nonadjacent intersections of the green lines which closely resembles an upside down equilateral triangle within the larger triangle.

11. Now, use the angle measurement tool or the line dimension tool to show that the blue triangle is
equilateral.
12.Finally, make up your own triangle and repeat the above steps to gather evidence that the Trisection theorem is true in general.

Exercise 5 - The Theorem of Hippocrates on Lunes


Hippocrates of Chios (460-380 B.C.) found and proved that: The sum of the areas of two lunes constructed on the two sides of a triangle which is inscribed in a semicircle, equals the area of that triangle.

1. Create a new AutoCAD drawing and hit F9 and F7 to turn on snaps and grid.
2. Change the drawing color to blue and use the polyline tool to make a right triangle whose vertices
are (4,1), (13,1), (13,5) and hit c, then return to close it.
3. Draw a 3-point circle, which circumscribes the triangle. The three vertices of the triangle must be
points on this circle. Make sure that you select the endpoint osnaps option in the Drafting Settings
window.

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Next, begin creating the lunes by drawing two 2-point circles. Draw a 2-point circle whose diameter is defined by the points (4,1) and (13,1). Next draw another 2-point circle whose diameter is defined
by the points (13,1) and (13,5).

4. In order to turn the objects into a solid that can be subtracted, the Extrude command must be utilized. Type Extrude in the command window and type All when prompted to select objects. Hit
return to execute the command and when prompted indicate an extrusion height of 1. The extrude
command converts 2-dimensional objects into 3-dimensional objects with a specific thickness,
known as the extrusion height.
5. Now, subtract the two 2-point circles from the 3-point circle using the Modify Solids Editing
Subtract option. DO NOT use the trim command because it will not produce a solid entity!

6. Finally, convert the 3D lune to a 2D structure in order to find the surface area by typing Explode
in the command window. When prompted choose All and hit enter to execute the command.
The explode command separates the 3D object into separate layers, thus allowing a surface area to
be calculated.
7. Find the area of each of the three entities by typing Area into the command window and when
prompted type O for object. Check to see that the sum of the areas of the two lunes equals the
area of the triangle.

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AutoCAD Lab 2 Quiz A


Name

ID #

Section

Grade:

1. In exercise 5, the sum of the area of the two lunes theoretically is:

a. equal to the area of the triangle


b. equal to twice the area of the triangle
c. greater than the area of the triangle
d. less than the area of the triangle

2. The radius of the small circle in Exercise 1b is closest to:

a. 0.65

3.

b. 0.69

c. 0.71

d. 0.73

e. 0.75

In the Miyagi problem, if r1=1 and r3=4, then r2 is:

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4

e. 5

4. Trisection Theorem: (2 points)


Record the dimension of all three sides of the small equilateral triangle created in Exercise 4
Top side =

Left side =

Right side =

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AutoCAD Lab 2 Quiz B


Name

ID #

Section

Grade:

1. The name sangaku literally means:

a. a musical song

b. mathematical drawing

d. a wooden tablet

e. a mathematical tablet

c. a mathematical puzzle

2. The radius of the small circle in Exercise 1b is closest to:

a. 0.61

b 0.65

c. 0.69

d. 0.71

e. 0.73

3. In the Miyagi problem, if R1=2 and R3=8, then r2 is:

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4

e. 5

4. Sangaku - Japanese Temple Geometry (2 points)


Draw a circle that circumscribes a right triangle of base 4 units and height 3 units.
Draw a circle whose diameter chord is the base of the triangle.
Draw a circle whose diameter chord is the height of the triangle.
Subtract to create the two lunes shown.
Give the area of each lune and verify that the sum of their areas equals the area of the triangle.
Area of smaller lune .....+ Area of larger lune .. = Area of Triangle = .....

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