Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Week 6, Day 2 (Geometry Part 2)

Polygons p. 232

Commonly known as shapes, polygons are many-sided figures (poly = many, gon = side) on a plane, or flat, 2D shapes. These include: triangles (three sides, three angles), quadrilaterals (four sides), pentagons (five sides), hexagons (six sides), heptagons (seven sides), octagons (eight sides), nonagons (nine sides), decagons (ten sides), enneagons (eleven sides), dodecagons (twelve sides) … etc.

Regular polygons have equal angles and equal sides; regular triangles are also known as equilateral triangles, while regular quadrilaterals are also known as squares.

Polygons have invisible diagonals, or lines connecting one vertex or angle to another vertex or angle through the middle of the shape. A convex polygon has all diagonals interior to the shape (and each interior angle is less than 180°), while a concave polygon has one or more diagonal exterior to the shape (and one or more interior angles is greater than 180°).

 

Triangles p. 233

Triangles are named by their three corners or vertices (e.g. rABC). The angles always add up to exactly 180°. There are several types of triangles:

Equilateral – triangles having equal sides and equal angles.

Isosceles – triangles having two equal sides and two equal angles.

Scalene – triangles having no equal sides and no equal angles.

Right – triangles having one right angle (90°).

Obtuse – triangles having one angle larger than 90° but less than 180°.

Acute – triangles having all angles smaller than 90°.

 

The base of the triangle can be any side of the triangle. The height or altitude is the perpendicular measure from the base to the opposite vertex, so it might be interior or exterior to the triangle depending on the type of triangle.


By contrast, a median goes from the vertex to the midpoint of the opposite side, and an angle bisector evenly divides an angle. There are three medians and three angle bisectors to every triangle. Also note the interesting fact: if the segment is two of these (median, altitude, angle bisector) it is automatically the third.

If two sides are equal, the opposite angles will also be equal, e.g., if AB = AC, then ÐC will equal ÐB. This is the case for all isosceles triangles.


 

For equilateral triangles, all sides and angles are equal, so the angles have to equal 60°.

 

For other triangles, the longest side will always be opposite the largest angle, and the other angles will be proportionally smaller and opposite the proportionally smaller sides. For example, as in a right triangle, where the longest side is the hypotenuse and is opposite the 90° angle.

 

Also note, for every triangle, no matter the type, the sum of any two sides must be larger than the third side.

 

An exterior angle will always be equal to the sum of the two opposite angles. In the example below, x = y + z:

(Alternatively, you can subtract x from 180°.)

 


The Pythagorean Theorem states that a2 + b2 = c2 for all right triangles. This means that the sum of the squares of the legs of a right triangle will equal to the square of the hypotenuse.

Pythagorean triples are sets of three numbers that show up as a pattern for right triangles’ legs and hypotenuses. We have several on our memorization chart, including those that apply to isosceles right triangles (or 45°-45°-90° triangles) and special right triangles (or 30°-60°-90° triangles).


The most common triple is 3, 4, 5 and its multiples (6, 8, 10 and 9, 12, 15, etc.), followed by the 5, 12, 13. Less common are 7, 24, 25 and 8, 15, 17. Standardized tests use triples like these frequently.

The isosceles right triangle triple is 1, 1, Ö2 and its multiples (x, x, xÖ2, for example 2, 2, 2Ö2 or 8, 8, 8Ö2, etc.). Remember that Ö2 » 1.3, so this side will always be the hypotenuse.

The other special right triangle triple is 1, Ö3, 2, and its multiples (x, xÖ3, 2x, for example 2, 2Ö3, 4 or 8, 8Ö3, 16, etc). Remember that Ö3 » 1.7, so it is the measure of the longest leg, while the 2x side will be the measure of the hypotenuse.

 

Quadrilaterals p. 251

All four-sided figures are quadrilaterals (quadri = 4, lateral = side). The sum of the interior angles will always equal 360°. The most common types of quadrilaterals are the square, rectangle, parallelogram, rhombus, and trapezoid, but there are irregular quadrilaterals that do not fit into these categories.

Square – all equal parallel sides and equal angles, the only truly regular quadrilateral; the diagonals are equal, bisect each other, bisect the angles, and are perpendicular at their intersection.


Rectangle – two opposite pairs of equal parallel sides, all equal angles; diagonals are equal and bisect each other.


Parallelogram – opposite sides are parallel and equal, opposite angles are equal, consecutive angles are supplementary; diagonals bisect each other but are not equal unless it is a rectangle.


Rhombus – a parallelogram with equal sides but not necessarily equal angles though the opposite angles will be equal; the diagonals need not be equal but they will bisect, be perpendicular, and be angle bisectors.  


Trapezoid – will have a pair of parallel sides, but everything else is undetermined. Note that an isosceles trapezoid has legs of equal measure and thus diagonals which are equal, and thus also base angles will be equal as well.

 

 

Sum of Interior Angles p. 255

The sum of the interior angles of any polygon can always be determined based on the number of sides: (n – 2)180° = S(Ðint)

This is why triangles have sums of 180° and quadrilaterals have sums of 360°, etc.

 

Perimeter & Area p. 256

These formulas are included on our memorization chart. The perimeter of any polygon is always the sum of all sides, but these formulas work as well:



For any square where x is the length of one side, P□ = 4x. The area is the square of that side, or A□ = x2.

For any parallelogram, including rectangles and rhombuses, where l is the length and w is the width (alternatively, use b for base and h for altitude or height), P = 2l + 2w or 2(l + w), and A = lw, or length times width (alternatively, use bh or base times height particularly for non-rectangular parallelograms).

For any triangle where a, b, and c are the sides, Pr = a + b + c, and where b is the measure of the base and h is the altitude or height, Ar = ½bh, or one-half base times height. 

Trapezoids are special cases; again, the perimeter is the sum of the sides, i.e., two bases (b1 and b2) and two legs (x and y), or P    = b1 + b2 + x + y; the area will be A     = ½h(b1 + b2) or one-half the height times the sum of the bases.

 

Circles p.260

Circles are single-sided figures (or two-sided, if you count them as having an inside and an outside) that include the set of all points equidistant from a center point by which it is named.

The parts of the circle are the radius, diameter, chord, and arc. The perimeter is called the circumference.

 

We use the measure p or pi (pronounced like “pie” for United States English) to calculate the circumference and the area. Pi is approximately equal to 3.14 (p » 3.141592658… - pi is a transcendental number and has an infinite, non-repeating decimal value; as such, it is an irrational real number), and though our textbook often calculates pi into the answers, most of the time standardized tests just have p as part of the answer.

 

Radius – the measure from the center to the edge of the circle, represented with a lowercase r.

Diameter – the measure from one edge to the other passing through the center, represented with a lowercase d. The diameter equals twice the radius, or d = 2r.

Chord – any line segment whose endpoints are on the edges of the circle. It need not pass through the center; the longest chord is always the diameter.

Arc – the measure around the edge of the circle from one point to another, measured in either length or degrees, and named by its endpoints.

 

The formulas for circles are on our memorization sheet:

 

The circumference equals twice the radius times pi, or the diameter times pi, i.e., C = 2pr or pd.

The area equals the radius squared times pi, or half of the diameter squared times pi, i.e., A○ = pr2 or p(½d)2.

 

Angles in a circle are used to calculate the measure of arcs. Central angles are formed by two radii, while inscribed angles have their vertices at the edge of the circle. The degree measure of a central angle is equal to the degree measure of the arc, but the degree measure of an inscribed angle is half the measure of the arc. Contrast the two following examples:

          


 

 

Some other terminology for circles:

Concentric circles are circles with the same central point.

Tangents are lines touching a circle at one point and are always perpendicular to the radius.


Note that similarity means having proportional measures: all circles are similar and all squares are similar. However, congruence means having identical measures.

 

Volume and Surface Area p. 267-269

Volume is the three-dimensional measure of the interior of any solid figure or prism, while surface area measures the two-dimensional area of each surface of a solid figure or prism. The formulas are also included on the memorization sheet. Volume is always given in cubic units, and surface area, like regular area, is given in square units.

The most important solid figures are the cube, the rectangular solid, and the cylinder (also known as a right circular cylinder on most exams). I have included other shapes such as the cone, pyramid, sphere, and other prisms just in case.


 



For cubes, volume is equal to one side measure cubed, or V = x3 where x is the measure of one side. The surface area is six times that side measure squared, or SA = 6x2, because there are six sides for any cube. For rectangular solids, the principles are the same but the formulas are slightly different. Volume will be the product of the three dimensions or V = lwh, for length times width times height, and surface area will be the sum of twice the area of each of the three pairs of similar sides, or A = 2lw + 2lh + 2hw. A right circular cylinder has bases which are circular and a lateral side that is perpendicular to the bases. The volume will be the product of the area of the base and the height, or V = pr2h. The lateral surface area is the measure of the area of the rectangle wrapped around the cylinder, which equals the product of the base’s circumference and the height of the cylinder, or LSA = 2prh, while the total surface area of a cylinder is the sum of the area of the two bases and the lateral surface area, or total SA = 2prh + 2pr2.





The book gives most of these formulas in a chart on p. 272-274. 


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