A REVIEW OF BASIC CONCEPTS IN GEOMETRY AND Straight angle ; where  = 180o In figure 10, ABC is a right triangle with

In figure 10, ABC is a right triangle with the right angle at C.

ALGEBRA When the sum of two acute angles is 90o, these angles are Sides a and b are the legs and side c is the hypotenuse. Since The sum
 called complementary angles. In figure 7a, 1 and 2 are of the three angles is 180o and C is 90o, then A and B are
complementary angles, or 1 + 2 = 90o. complementary. They are acute angles with a sum equal to 90o. That is,
The topics here will serve as your background information in the study Two angles are supplementary when their sum is 180o. In A + B = 90o
of trigonometry. figure 7b, 1 and 2 are supplementary, or 1 + 2 = 180o. A very important theorem relates the three sides of the right
triangle. This is the theorem of Pythagoras, or simply the Pythagorean
Points and Line Segments Triangles Theorem. It states that:
A point locates a position in a plane. It has no dimension and A triangle is a plane closed figure formed by three line The square of the hypotenuse in a right
is denoted with a capital letter. Figure 1 shows pint P. segments. It has three angles and three sides. The line segments form triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the two
A line segment is part of a line. It has a definite length. The the sides of the triangle. The angles in a triangle are called vertices
endpoints of a line segment are used to name the line segment as well legs.
(plural for vertex).
as to indicate its length. In figure 2a. line segment AB has length AB. When applied to ABC in figure 10, we have
The vertices of a triangle are labeled using capital letters such
When a line segment is indicated by a direction through an c2 = a2 + b2
as A, B, and C. The triangle is then denoted by these letters. The triangle
arrowhead, it is called a ray or a vector. Ray or vector AB in figure 2b Two special types of right triangles will be of much use in our
in figure 8 is named ABC (read as “triangle ABC”). The three vertices of
has an initial point at A and a terminal point at B. Ray BA in figure 2c topic.
ABC are A, B, and C. Oftentimes, Greek letters are used to 1. 30o – 60o – 90o Triangle
has an initial point at B and a terminal point at A. denote the angles in a triangle. The 30o-60o-90o triangle is a right triangle whose
The three sides of the triangle are denoted by the two acute angles measure 30o and 60o as in figure
Angles vertices that make up the sides. In ABC, the three sides are AB, BC,
An angle is a geometric figure formed when two line 11.The side opposite the 30o angle is one-half the
and AC. The sides may also be denoted by the lowercase leters of the hypotenuse. In figure 11, h = 2f.
segments (or vectors or rays) meet at a common point. The point where
opposite vertex. Hence, side a is opposite A, side b is opposite B, 2. Isosceles Right Triangle
the two lines meet is called the vertex of the angle, while the line
and side c is opposite C. For convenience, the notations represent not The isosceles right triangle have two equal sides
segments that form the angle are called its sides. To denote an angle,
we use the letter of the vertex, a Greek letter, or three points on the only the part of the triangle but also its measure. That is, side a also and an angle that is 90o. The sides are opposite the
angle. Most commonly used Greek letters are  (alpha),  (beta),  means the measure of side a, and A also represents the measure of equal angles. If the two acute angles are equal, then
(gamma),  (theta),  (phi). The angle in figure 3 may be designated as angle A. Therefore we can say that a = BC, b = AC , and c = AB. these measure 45o each (which is half of 90o). Figure
D, , or CDE. In using three letters to denote the angle, the middle Let us now look into some of the properties of the triangle. 12 shows isosceles right triangle KLM, where K =
letter represents the vertex of the angle. The vertex of CDE is at D,
When three sides of a triangle are equal, then the three M = 45o and KL = LM.
angles are also equal. When a triangle does not have equal sides, then
while the sides are CD and DE.
the angle opposite the longest side is also the largest angle. Likewise, An isosceles triangle has two equal sides. The
Two angles are adjacent if they have a common side. In figure
the angle opposite the shortest side is the smallest angle. In figure 8, angles opposite these equal sides are also equal. In
4, FGH is adjacent to HGI and their common side is GH.
since b is the longest side, then its opposite angle, B, is the largest figure 13, since LM = MN = s, LMN is an isosceles
Perpendicular lines are formed when two straight lines
intersect and form four equal angles. The angles formed are called right angle. triangle. Also L = N = .
angles and each measures 90o. We denote a right angle by drawing a The sum of the lengths of any two sides of a triangle is always
small square at its vertex. In figure 5, JM is perpendicular to KL. In greater than the length of the third side. That is, looking at the triangle Triangles are similar if they have the same shape.
symbols, JMKL. Also JNK = KNM = MNL = JNL = 90o. in figure 8, we have: a + b  c, or a + c  b, or b + c  a. Then the measures of two angles of one triangle are
A straight angle is an angle whose sides form a straight line. In a triangle, the sum of the three angles is 180o. An exterior equal to the measures of the two angles of another
angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of the two opposite interior triangle, the two triangles are similar. The symbol
LNK in figure 5 is a straight angle. Note that LNM and MNK form
the straight angle LNK. Since each of the two angles is 90o, then
angles. for similarity is .
For PQR in figure 9, we have :
LNK = LNM + MNK = 90o + 90o = 180o
 +  +  = 180o
Therefore, a straight angle measures 180o.
An acute angle measures less than 90o, while an obtuse angle Also,
1 =  + 
measures between 90o and 180o. In figure 6,  is an acute angle, while 
is an obtuse angle,  is a right angle and  is a straight angle. 2 =  + 
In summary, 3 =  + 
Acute angle ; where 0o    90o A right triangle is a triangle in which one angle is a right
angle. The two sides that form the right angle are called the legs, while
Right angle ; where  = 90o
the remaining side which is opposite the right angle is called the
Obtuse angle ; where 90o    180o
hypotenuse.