WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

A Visual Proof of Thales's Intercept Theorem

​
n
1
lines
Consider an arbitrary triangle with sides
a
,
b
,
c
. Extend
b
to
b'
and
c
to
c'
to form a second triangle with third side
a'
parallel to
a
. Then the lengths of the sides satisfy the relations
a'
a
=
b'
b
=
c'
c
and hence
a'
b'
=
a
b
,
b'
c'
=
b
c
,
c'
a'
=
c
a
. In other words, the line segments that are created if two intersecting lines are intercepted by a pair of parallels are proportional.
You can drag the two red points.