On Menelaus' and Ceva's theorems in Nil geometry

Abstract

In this paper we deal with $\NIL$ geometry, which is one of the homogeneous Thurston 3-geometries. We define the "surface of a geodesic triangle" using generalized Apollonius surfaces. Moreover, we show that the "lines" on the surface of a geodesic triangle can be defined by the famous Menelaus' condition and prove that Ceva's theorem for geodesic triangles is true in $\NIL$ space. In our work we will use the projective model of $\NIL$ geometry described by E. Moln\'ar in \cite{M97}.