Ellipse-locus conjecture for triangle centers on focus-mounted triangles

Let E\mathcal{E} be an ellipse with foci f1f_1 and f2f_2, and let P(t)P(t) sweep E\mathcal{E}. For the triangle Tf(t)=f1f2P(t)\mathcal{T}_f(t)=f_1f_2P(t), denote by XkX_k the kkth triangle center, and let X1X_1 and X2X_2 be the first and second triangle centers. A point XkX_k is a fixed affine combination of X1X_1 and X2X_2 if there are constants independent of tt such that Xk=λX1+(1λ)X2X_k=\lambda X_1+(1-\lambda)X_2. Ellipse-locus conjecture. The locus of XkX_k over Tf(t)=f1f2P(t)\mathcal{T}_f(t)=f_1f_2P(t) is an ellipse if and only if XkX_k is a fixed affine combination of X1X_1 and X2X_2. Numerical analysis found no counterexample among the more than 38,000 listed centers that are not on the X1X2X_1X_2 line, while the proposition preceding the conjecture identifies several centers whose loci are ellipses. The claim remains unproved in the supplied text.

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Primary source

Mark Helman, Ronaldo Garcia and Dan Reznik, “Intriguing Invariants of Centers of Ellipse-Inscribed Triangles”, arXiv:2010.09408 (2021).

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