Triangles

A triangle has three sides and three angles

The three angles always add to 180°

Equilateral, Isosceles and Scalene

There are three special names given to triangles that tell how many sides (or angles) are
equal.

There can be 3, 2 or no equal sides/angles:

Equilateral Triangle

Three equal sides

Three equal angles, always 60°

Isosceles Triangle

Two equal sides

Two equal angles

Scalene Triangle

No equal sides
No equal angles

What Type of Angle?

Triangles can also have names that tell you what type of angle is inside:

Acute Triangle

All angles are less than 90°

 Right Triangle

Has a right angle (90°)

Obtuse Triangle

Has an angle more than 90°

Combining the Names

Sometimes a triangle will have two names, for example:

Right Isosceles Triangle

Has a right angle (90°), and also two equal angles

Can you guess what the equal angles are?

Area

The area is half of the base times height.

 "b" is the distance along the base

 "h" is the height (measured at right angles to
the base)

Area = ½bh

The formula works for all triangles.

Another way of writing the formula is bh/2

Example: What is the area of this triangle?

 Height = h = 12

Base = b = 20

Area = bh/2 = 20 × 12 / 2 = 120

Just make sure that the "h" is measured at right angles to the "b".

Why is the Area "Half of bh"?

Imagine you "doubled" the triangle (flip it around one of the upper edges) to make a square-
like shape (it would be a "parallelogram" actually), THEN the whole area would be bh (that
would be for both triangles, so just one is ½bh), like this:

You can also see that if you sliced the new triangle and placed the sliced part on the other side
you get a simple rectangle, whose area is bh.

Quadrilaterals
 Quadrilateral just means "four sides"
(quad means four, lateral means side).

Any four-sided shape is a

Quadrilateral.

But the sides have to be straight, and

it has to be 2-dimensional.

Properties
 Four sides (or edges)
 Four vertices (or corners).
 The interior angles add up to 360 degrees:

Types of Quadrilaterals
There are special types of quadrilateral:

The Rectangle
  
means "right angle"
and show equal sides

A rectangle is a four-sided shape where every angle is a right angle (90°).

Also opposite sides are parallel and of equal length.

The Rhombus

A rhombus is a four-sided shape where all sides have equal length.

Also opposite sides are parallel and opposite angles are equal.

Another interesting thing is that the diagonals (dashed lines in second figure) of a rhombus
bisect each other at right angles.

The Square
 
means "right angle"
show equal sides

A square has equal sides and every angle is a right angle (90°)

Also opposite sides are parallel.

A square also fits the definition of a rectangle (all angles are 90°), and a rhombus (all sides
are equal length).

The Parallelogram
Opposite sides are parallel and equal in length, and opposite angles are equal (angles "a" are
the same, and angles "b" are the same)

NOTE: Squares, Rectangles and Rhombuses are all Parallelograms!

Example:

A parallelogram with:

 all sides equal and

 angles "a" and "b" as right angles

is a square!

The Trapezoid (UK: Trapezium)

Trapezoid Isosceles Trapezoid

A trapezoid (called a trapezium in the UK) has one pair of opposite sides parallel.

It is called an Isosceles trapezoid if the sides that aren't parallel are equal in length and both
angles coming from a parallel side are equal, as shown.

Language Note: In the US a "trapezium" is a quadrilateral with NO parallel sides!

The Kite
Hey, it looks like a kite. It has two pairs of sides. Each pair is made up of adjacent sides that
are equal in length. The angles are equal where the pairs meet. Diagonals (dashed lines) meet
at a right angle, and one of the diagonal bisects (cuts equally in half) the other.

... and that's it for the special quadrilaterals.

Irregular Quadrilaterals
The only regular quadrilateral is a square. So all other quadrilaterals are irregular.

The "Family Tree" Chart

Quadrilateral definitions are inclusive.

Example: a square is also a rectangle.

So we include a square in the definition of a rectangle.

(We don't say "A rectangle has all 90° angles, except if it is a square")

This may seem odd because in daily life we think of a square as not being a rectangle ... but
in mathematics it is.

Using the chart below you can answer such questions as:

 Is a Square a type of Rectangle? (Yes)

 Is a Rectangle a type of Kite? (No)
Complex Quadrilaterals
Oh Yes! when two sides cross over, you call it a "Complex" or "Self-Intersecting"
quadrilateral like these:

They still have 4 sides, but two sides cross over.

Polygon
A quadrilateral is a polygon. In fact it is a 4-sided polygon, just like a triangle is a 3-sided
polygon, a pentagon is a 5-sided polygon, and so on.