Learning activity 2: Constructing simple Voronoi diagrams

Key understanding: How perpendicular bisectors can be systematically chosen to construct

a small Voronoi diagram.
Time: 30–40 minutes.
Prior knowledge: Concept of a perpendicular bisector
ATL Skills: Thinking skills, communication skills
Materials: GeoGebra Applet, internet access, and/or paper, compass and straight edge.

Investigation questions
1. Open the GeoGebra Voronoi App. Observe—how are the edges positioned relative to the
sites? Be as specific as possible.
Ans. The side A, B and C has the same distance to the site.
2. Move the sites A, B, and C around. Do the relationships you observe still hold? Be sure to
test extreme cases.
Ans. The side A, B and C do not have same distance to the site. The line segment is also
moving with the side as a cell.
3. Connect two sites with a line segment. How is the edge between these two sites related to
this segment? Test your conjecture with other pairs of sites.
Ans. The line segment is crossing the edge of the Voronoi diagram.
4. Describe a mathematical method for constructing your own Voronoi diagram of three
sites.
Ans. Perpendicular bisector
5. Compare your method with another student’s. Are your methods similar? What revisions,
if any, do you want to make to yours?

6. On a blank GeoGebra template (or sheet of paper), plot three sites and construct their
Voronoi diagram using perpendicular bisectors.
7. Test your Voronoi diagram’s accuracy by choosing several points in different cells and
measuring to verify that they are indeed closest to the site in their cell.
8. What point(s) will be equally distant to all sites? Justify your answer.
Ans.
9. International Mindedness: The Eurovision Song Contest is an international musical
competition in which each country awards points to other countries. How could a Voronoi
diagram help to explain some of the scoring?
10. TOK: Are there any situations in which being geographically close differs from being
culturally close?