The equal tangents property

Abstract

Abstract Let M be a C2-smooth strictly convex closed surface in ℝ3 and denote by H the set of points x in the exterior of M such that all the tangent segments from x to M have equal lengths. In this note we prove that if H is either a closed surface containing M or a plane, then M is a Euclidean sphere. Moreover, we shall see that the situation in the Euclidean plane is very different.