7.

6 the diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral

Establish the following chain of theorems:
(a) the product of two sides of a triangle is equal to the product of the altitude on the
third side by the diameter of the circumsribed circle.
(b) Let ABCD be a cyclic quadrilateral of diameter . Denote the lengths of the sides
AB, BC, CD, DA by a, b, c, d, the diagonals BD and AC by m and n, and the
angle between either diagonal and the perpendicular upon the other by . Show
that :
(c) Show, for the above quadrilateral, that :
(d) If, in the above quadrilateral, the diagonals are perpendicular to each other, then
7.7 brahmagupta`s quadrilaterals
(a) brahmanagupta gave the formula -----------for the area K of a cyclic quadrilateral
of sides a, b, c, d and semiperimeter s. show that herons formula for the area of a
triangle is a special case of this formula.
(b) Using brahmanaguptas formula of part (a) show that the area of a quadrilateral
possessing both an inscribed and a circumscribed circle is equal to the square root
of the product of its sides.
(c) Show that a qudrilateral has perpendicular diagonals if and only if the sum of the
squares of the other pair of opposite sides.
(d) Brahmagupta showed that if --------and -----------, then any quadrilateral having
--------------- for consecutive sides has perpendicular diagonals. Prove this.
(e) Find the sides, diagonals, circumdiameter, and area of the brahmagupta trapezium
(see section 7-4) determined by the two pythagorean triples (3, 4, 5) and (5,12,
13).
7.8 tabit ibn qorra and al-karkhi
(a) Tabit ibn qorra (826 901) invented the following rule for finding amicable
numbers : if ----------------are three primes, then 2n pq and 2n r are a pair of the
amicable numbers. Verify this for n = 2 and n= 4 (see section 3-3).
(b) Al-karkhi (ca. 1020) wrote a work on algebra called the fakhri, named after his
patron fakhr al-mulk, the grand vizier of bagdad at the time. Problem 1 of section
5 of the fakhri requests one to find two rational numbers such that the sum of their
cubes is the square of a rational number. In oyher words, find rational number x,
y, z such that
Al-karkhi essentially takes
Where m and n are arbitrary rational numbers. Verify this, and find x, y, z for m =
2 and n = 3.
7.9 casting out 9s
(a) Show that when the sum of the digits of a natural number is divided by 9, one
obtains the same remainder as when the number itself is divided by 9.
The act of obtaining the remainder when a given natural number is devided by an
integer n is known as casting out ns. The above theorem shows that it is
particularly easy to cast out 9s.
(b) Let us call the remainder obtained when a given natural number is divided by 9,
the excees for that number. Prove the following two theorems :

(c)
(d)

(e)

(f)

The excess for a sum is equal to the excess for the sum of the excesses of
the addends.
The excess for the product of two numbers is equal to the excess for the
product of the excesses of the two numbers.
These two theorems furnish the basis for checking additional and multiplication
by casting out 9s.
Add and then multiply 478 and 993, and check by casting out 9s.
Show that if the order of the digits of a natural number are permuted in any way
to form a new number, then the difference between the old and the numbers is
divisible by 9.
This funishes the basis for the bookkeepers check. If the sums of the debit and
credit entries in double entry bookkeeping do not balance, and the difference
between the two sums is divisible by 9, then it is quite likely that the error is due
to a transposition in digits made when transcribing a debit or a credit in to the
book.
Explain the following number trick : someone is asked to think of a number; form
a new number by reversing the order of the digits; subtract the smaller from the
larger number; multiply the difference by any number whatever; scracth out any
nonzero digit in the product and announce what is left. The conjurer finds the
scrachted out digit by calculating the excees for the announced result and then
subtracting this excees from 9.
Generalize the theorem of part (a) for an arbitrary base b.