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Reference.org
Philo line
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<p>In <a href="/facts/Geometry/wTQf5ffQ">geometry</a>, the Philo line is a <a href="/facts/Line_segment/V8E0M4qk">line segment</a> defined from an <a href="/facts/Angle/gFUTEQYq">angle</a> and a <a href="/facts/Point_(geometry)/6YPAvX2a">point</a> inside the angle as the shortest line segment through the point that has its endpoints on the two sides of the angle. Also known as the Philon line, it is named after <a href="/facts/Philo_of_Byzantium/w0Dm9eg4">Philo of Byzantium</a>, a Greek writer on mechanical devices, who lived probably during the 1st or 2nd century BC. Philo used the line to <a href="/facts/Doubling_the_cube/eIHS1ybp">double the cube</a>; because doubling the cube cannot be done by a <a href="/facts/Straightedge_and_compass_construction/lbaHf2m7">straightedge and compass construction</a>, neither can constructing the Philo line. </p>