USING GEOGEBRA IN

TEACHING CENTROID
Engr. Edwin F. Sampang
University of the East
2219 C.M. Recto Avenue, Sampaloc, Manila
 INTRODUCTION
The concept of center of gravity is very important in
the field of engineering. It helps an engineer in designing
static structures such as buildings, dams, bridges and
others as well as non-static structures.
 Center of gravity is the point where the mass
of an object is concentrated. In the figure, it shows
that the in a standing position, human center of
gravity is more or less located near the stomach.
 In the field of sports, it plays an important role in
the athletes’ movement specially in gymnastics, athletics,
martial arts, weightlifting and many others
 Centroid is the geometric
Center of gravity actually
center of a plane figure
is associated to three
and associated to two
dimensional objects
dimensional objects
 TRADITIONAL
METHOD OF
LOCATING THE
CENTROID
OF ANY TRIANGLE BY
GRAPHICAL METHOD
PLOT THE MIDPOINT OF ONE OF THE SIDES
DRAW A LINE SEGMENT FROM THE MIDPOINT
TO THE OPPOSITE VERTEX
PLOT THE MIDPOINT OF THE SECOND SIDE
DRAW A LINE SEGMENT FROM THE MIDPOINT
OF THE SECOND SIDE TO ITS OPPOSITE VERTEX
PLOT THE MIDPOINT OF THE THIRD SIDE
DRAW A LINE SEGMENT FROM THE MIDPOINT
OF THE THIRD SIDE TO ITS OPPOSITE VERTEX
THE INTERSECTION OF THE THREE LINE
SEGMENTS (MEDIANS) IS THE CENTROID OF THE
TRIANGLE
 Centroid of a non-overlapping polygon can be
easily obtained by using a software. In this paper, a
dynamic geometry software, Geogebra, will be
discussed in determining the centroid of a non-
overlapping polygon.
Locate the centroid of a quadrilateral
A(0,0), B(4,7), C(10, 5), and D(12,1).

B(4,7)

C(10,5)

E(6,3)

D(12,1)
A(0,0)
 Four Possible Locations of the Centroid of a Quadrilateral

INSIDE OUTSIDE

E(6, 3)
E(10/3, 5/3)

E(4,2)

E(88/27, 2)

ALONG ONE OF ITS SIDES ONE OF ITS VERTICES

 And also, center of gravity is not always at the
interior of an object.
 In teaching this, emphasize to your students that the
centroid of a plane figure is not always at the interior
of it.
Using Geogebra can facilitate the teacher to
demonstrate that changing the position of one of its
vertices will also change the position of the centroid.
Determining the position of its centroid without using
a software requires a tedious computing and drawing
as well as it is a time consuming process.