Pick's Theorem

Sage Binder 🌐 and Katherine Kosaian 🌐

April 26, 2024

This is a development version of this entry. It might change over time and is not stable. Please refer to release versions for citations.

Abstract

We formalize Pick's theorem for finding the area of a simple polygon whose vertices are integral lattice points. We are inspired by John Harrison's formalization of Pick's theorem in HOL Light, but tailor our proof approach to avoid a primary challenge point in his formalization, which is proving that any polygon with more than three vertices can be split (in its interior) by a line between some two vertices. Our formalization involves augmenting the existing geometry libraries in various foundational ways (e.g., by adding the definition of a polygon and formalizing some key properties thereof).

License

BSD License

Topics

Related publications

  • Grunbaum, B., & Shephard, G. C. (1993). Pick’s Theorem. The American Mathematical Monthly, 100(2), 150. https://doi.org/10.2307/2323771
  • HARRISON, J. (2011). A formal proof of Pick’s Theorem. Mathematical Structures in Computer Science, 21(4), 715–729. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0960129511000089

Session Picks_Theorem