Triangles o Greek

▪ Thales
• Congruent iff exactly the same shape and size ▪ Eratosthenes
o SSS ▪ Pythagoras
o SAS o a2+b2=c2
o ASA o discovered irrational numbers through
• Similar triangles are not always congruent geometric measurements
(Euclidean Geometry) -> sides are proportionate • The Golden Ratio
o Draw a line // to one side o Divide a line into two parts such that the
o Draw another triangle whose lines are // to ratio of the shorter to the longer is equal to
the original the ratio of the longer to the whole
• Sum of interior angles = 180o (Legendre, 18th ▪ 1, x, 1-x
Century) 𝑥 1−𝑥
▪  = 1−𝑥 = 1 = 1.6180339887…
• Exterior angle d = a + b; d + c = 180o
• The Golden Rectangle
• Inequality 𝐿
o𝑊 =
o AB + BC > AC
o AC + BC > AB o Draw a square, connect the midpoint of one
o Ac + AB > BC side to one corner (line B); draw a line equal
• Proportionality to the length of line B starting from the
o Longest side is opposite biggest angle midpoint; form the rectangle
o Shortest side is opposite shortest angle o Michaelangelo’s David, Afrodita, Vitruvian
• Special Triangles Man…- most beautiful as it exhibits the
o Scalene- no equal sides or angles golden ratio
o Isosceles- 2 equal sides and angles • Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212BC)
o Equilateral- all 3 sides and angles are equal o Measured areas and volumes of various
o Right Triangle- 90o angle shapes
▪ 45-45-90: x-x-x√2 o Method of exhaustion developed by Eudoxus
▪ 30-60-90: x-x√3-2x (~350BC)
1 1 1 1
▪ + + …=
Geometry: Earth + Measure 4 16 64 3

Euclidean Geometry
• Pre-Euclidean Geometry
o Babylonian (~2000BC) o Axioms
▪ Area and volume of some figures ▪ Things equal to the same thing are equal
▪ Division of circle into 360 parts ▪ If equals are added to equals, the wholes
▪ Right triangle, Pythagorean triples are equal
(a2+b2=c2) ▪ If equals are subtracted from equals, the
o Egyptian (~2000BC) remainders are equal
▪ Measurements for the pyramid (slope, ▪ Things that coincide with one another are
volume) equal to one another
▪ Land area and volume of granaries ▪ The whole is greater than the sum of its
▪ Arithmetic parts
▪ Algebra o Postulate 1
▪ Ahmes Papyrus (~1650BC) ▪ A straight line can be drawn from any
o “insight into all that exists, knowledge of point to any point
all obscure secrets” o Postulate 2
▪ Area of a circle given the side of a ▪ A finite straight line can be produced
square continuously in a straight line
o Diameter = Side o Postulate 3
o A Circle = A Square ▪ A circle may be drawn with any point as
1 8
o A Square = (d – 9 𝑑)2 OR (9 𝑑)2 center and any distance as radius
o Approximates π = 3.160493827
 o Postulate 4
▪ All right angles are equal to one another
o Postulate 5
▪ If a transversal falls on two lines in such a
way that the sum of the angles on one
side is less than two right angles (180o),
then the lines meet on that side and are
therefore not parallel
*If a line intersects one of two parallel lines, it also
intersects the other (Proculus, 5th Century)
**Two parallel lines are equidistant (Posidonius,
100BC)
***Through a point not on line A, there exists exactly
one line parallel to line A
Euclidean Transformations
• Reflections
o Flips across an axis
• Rotations
o Center and angle of rotation
• Translations
o Isometry- mapping that preserves distance
and therefore, shape
o Movement in a fixed distance and direction
• Glide Reflection
o Combination of Reflection and Translation
• Symmetric Patterns
o Plane pattern has symmetry if there is isometry
▪ Rosette Patterns (Finite designs)- taking a
motif and rotating or reflecting it
(Leonardo’s Theorem- make sure
cathedrals remained symmetrical when
additions were made to chapels)
o Cyclic- rotation and no reflection
o Dihedral- reflection
▪ Frieze Patterns- translational symmetry in
one direction; imagined to go to infinity
in both directions or wrap around
o Hop- translational symmetry
o Jump- reflection across a horizontal
line
o Step- glide reflection
o Sidle- vertical reflection
o Spinhop- 180o rotation symmetry
o Spinsidle-
o Spinjump- lots of symmetries
▪ Wallpaper Patterns- from symmetry
groups; 17 possible plane symmetries
• Tesselations/Tilings
o Shape is repeated to cover a plane without
any gaps or overlaps
• Projective Geometry
o 2nd Postulate: A finite straight line can be
produced continuously in a straight line
o Parallel lines intersect
o Gerard Desargues (1591-1661)
▪ French mathematician and engineer
▪ Father of projective geometry
▪ Theorem: if two triangles are perspective
from a point, then they are perspective
from a line
o Projective Transformations
▪ DO NOT preserve size and shape
▪ DO NOT preserve distance
▪ PRESERVE lines, straightness of lines
▪ PRESERVE incidence of points and lines
• Euler Graphs
o Leonhard Euler (1707-1783)
▪ Father of topology
o Continuous mappings
(homeomorphisms) preserve objects
o Euler Path
▪ Each edge is traced exactly once
▪ At most two odd vertices/degrees
o Euler Tour
▪ Each edge is traced once; initial and
terminal nodes are the same
▪ Vertices are even
• Topological Transformations
o Stretch, shrink, bend; NO cutting, tearing,
puncturing, or merging of paths
o Simple closed curve topologically equivalent
to a circle (i.e. coffee cup = donut)
Non-Euclidean Geometry
• What if there is another line parallel to line A?
o Hyperbolic Geometry
▪ “Out of nothing, I have create a strange
new universe” (Janos Bolyai, 1832)
▪ Through a point not on line A, there exists
at least two lines parallel to line A
▪ Poincare’s Model
o As long as the lines do not intersect,
they are parallel
o Sum of the angles are less than 180o
o Similar triangles are congruent
 • What is there is no line parallel to line A?
o Elliptic Geometry
▪ Through a point not on line A, there is no
line parallel to line A
▪ Sum of angles are greater than 180o
▪ Similar triangles are congruent
• Einstein used non-Euclidean geometry in his
general theory of relativity; the visual map of the
eye is hyperbolic → Our universe is non-
Euclidean

• Hairy Ball Theorem

o Can’t be combed smoothly [in one direction]
because there will be a point that sticks up
o There is always a cyclone or a place without
air on Earth
• Hairy Donuts
o Can be combed smoothly to create nuclear
fission
• Pancake Theorem
o A and B are bound subsets of a plane; line
that divides each region in half by area
o At any moment, there is a pair of antipodal
points with the same temperature on the
Earth
• Ham Sandwich Theorem (Borsuk-Ulam)
o A, B, C are bound subsets of a 3D real
space; with a plane dividing each region in
half by volume
o At any moment, there exists a pair of
antipodal points with the same temperature
and pressure on the surface of the Earth
• Four Color Theorem
o Every map can be colored using at most 4
colors

“One geometry cannot be more true than another; it

can only be more convenient.” Poincaré