In geometry the Fermat point of a triangle, also called Torricelli point, is a point such that the total distance from the three vertices of the triangle to the point is the minimum possible. It is so named because this problem is first raised by Fermat in a private letter to Evangelista Torricelli, who solved it.
The Fermat point gives a solution to the geometric median and Steiner tree problems for three points.
Read more about Fermat Point: Construction, Geometry, Concurrency, Another Proof, Properties, Aliases, History
Famous quotes containing the word point:
“For pain is perhaps but a violent pleasure? Who could determine the point where pleasure becomes pain, where pain is still a pleasure? Is not the utmost brightness of the ideal world soothing to us, while the lightest shadows of the physical world annoy?”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)