Geometry in the plane

More specifically, in Euclidean geometry, a point is a primitive notion upon

which the geometry is built, meaning that a point cannot be defined in terms of
previously defined objects. That is, a point is defined only by some properties,
called axioms, that it must satisfy. In particular, the geometric points do not
have any length, area, volume or any other dimensional attribute. A common
interpretation is that the concept of a point is meant to capture the notion of a
unique location in Euclidean space.

A line segment is a part of a line that is bounded by two distinct end points
and contains every point on the line between its end points. Depending on how
the line segment is defined, either of the two end points may or may not be part
of the line segment. Two or more line segments may have some of the same
relationships as lines, such as being parallel, intersecting, or skew, but unlike
lines they may be none of these, if they are coplanar and either do not intersect
or are collinear.

Given a line and any point A on it, we may consider A as decomposing this
line into two parts. Each such part is called a ray (or half-line) and the
point A is called its initial point. The point A is considered to be a member of the
ray.[14] Intuitively, a ray consists of those points on a line passing through A and
proceeding indefinitely, starting at A, in one direction only along the line.
However, in order to use this concept of a ray in proofs a more precise definition
is required.
Given distinct points A and B, they determine a unique ray with initial point A.
As two points define a unique line, this ray consists of all the points
between A and B (including A and B) and all the points C on the line
through A and B such that B is between A and C.[15] This is, at times, also
expressed as the set of all points C such that A is not between B and C.[16] A
point D, on the line determined by A and B but not in the ray with initial
point A determined by B, will determine another ray with initial point A. With
respect to the AB ray, the AD ray is called the opposite ray.

The notion of line or straight line was introduced by ancient mathematicians

to represent straight objects (i.e., having no curvature) with negligible width and
depth. Lines are an idealization of such objects. Until the 17th century, lines
were defined in this manner: "The [straight or curved] line is the first species of
quantity, which has only one dimension, namely length, without any width nor
depth, and is nothing else than the flow or run of the point which […] will leave
from its imaginary moving some vestige in length, exempt of any width. […] The
straight line is that which is equally extended between its points."
 Two lines contained in the plane that do not have any points in common are
said to be parallel. If they have a point in common they are said to be
concurrent. A line that cuts two others is said to be a transversal.

We also speak of half-planes: each of the two parts in which a plane is

divided by removing a line from it. They will also be open or closed semiplanes,
depending on whether the line from which it is formed is included or not.

In planar geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called

the sides of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the vertex of the
angle.[1]Angles formed by two rays lie in a plane, but this plane does not have to
be a Euclidean plane. Angles are also formed by the intersection of two planes
in Euclidean and other spaces. These are called dihedral angles. Angles
formed by the intersection of two curves in a plane are defined as the angle
determined by the tangent rays at the point of intersection. Similar statements
hold in space, for example, the spherical angle formed by two great circles on
a sphere is the dihedral angle between the planes determined by the great
circles.

A flat curve can be described intuitively and informally as the set of points
that a pencil traces as it is displaced by the plane without being raised. If the
pencil never passes through the same point twice, it is said that the curve is
simple. If the pencil is raised at the same point where it began to trace, it is said
that the curve is closed. . If the only point where the pencil passes twice is that
of the beginning and end of the trace, it will be said that the curve is closed and
simple. It is required that the curves have a starting point and a final one, so the
straight lines, semi-straight and angles are not curves.

A figure is said to be convex, if and only if, it contains the segment PQ for
each pair of points P and Q contained in the figure. The non-convex figures are
said to be concave.

The circumference is a closed, convex curve, such that the distance from any
of its points to a fixed one is constant. The fixed point is called the center of the
circle and the constant distance is called radius (the radius is also called the
segment that is the center with any point on the circumference, a diameter is
any segment that joins two points of the circumference passing through the
center.

A simple curve that is formed by segments joined at their ends is said to be a

polygonal curve. If this curve is closed it is said to be a polygon: the
segments that form it are called sides and the ends of those segments, vertices.
If all sides of a polygon are equal it is said to be regular. In principle, nothing is
said about whether the polygonal curves, and the polygons, have to be flat. One
can also speak of polygons and spatial polygons, although the study of
polygons is usually restricted to the polygons contained in the plane.
Regular polygons

• A polygon that has all its sides equal is said to be equilateral (all sides are
congruent).

• A convex polygon whose interior angles are all congruent is said to be

equiangular.

• A convex polygon that is has its sides and its equal angles is said to be
regular.

• In a regular polygon with n sides, any angle with vertex in the center and
whose sides contain adjacent vertices of the polygon is said to be a central
angle of the polygon.
A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the
basic shapes in geometry. In Euclidean geometry any three points, when non-
collinear, determine a unique triangle and simultaneously, a unique plane (i.e. a
two-dimensional Euclidean space). In other words, there is only one plane that
contains that triangle, and every triangle is contained in some plane.
Types of triangles

Euler diagram of types of triangles, using the definition that isosceles triangles
have at least 2 equal sides, i.e. equilateral triangles are isosceles.
By lengths of sides
Triangles can be classified according to the lengths of their sides:

• An equilateral triangle has all sides the same length. An equilateral triangle
is also a regular polygon with all angles measuring 60°
• An isosceles triangle has two sides of equal length. An isosceles triangle
also has two angles of the same measure, namely the angles opposite to
the two sides of the same length; this fact is the content of the isosceles
triangle theorem, which was known by Euclid. Some mathematicians define
an isosceles triangle to have exactly two equal sides, whereas others define
an isosceles triangle as one with at least two equal sides.[2] The latter
definition would make all equilateral triangles isosceles triangles. The 45–
45–90 right triangle, which appears in the tetrakis square tiling, is isosceles.
• A scalene triangle has all its sides of different lengths. Equivalently, it has all
angles of different measure.

Equilateral Isosceles Scalene

By internal angles
Triangles can also be classified according to their internal angles, measured
here in degrees.

• A right triangle (or right-angled triangle, formerly called a rectangled triangle)

has one of its interior angles measuring 90° (a right angle). The side
opposite to the right angle is the hypotenuse, the longest side of the triangle.
The other two sides are called the legs or catheti[4] (singular: cathetus) of the
triangle. Right triangles obey the Pythagorean theorem: the sum of the
squares of the lengths of the two legs is equal to the square of the length of
the hypotenuse: a2 + b2 = c2, where a and b are the lengths of the legs
and c is the length of the hypotenuse. Special right triangles are right
triangles with additional properties that make calculations involving them
easier. One of the two most famous is the 3–4–5 right triangle, where 32 +
42 = 52. In this situation, 3, 4, and 5 are a Pythagorean triple. The other one
is an isosceles triangle that has 2 angles that each measure 45 degrees.
• Triangles that do not have an angle measuring 90° are called oblique
triangles.
• A triangle with all interior angles measuring less than 90° is an acute
triangle or acute-angled triangle. If c is the length of the longest side,
then a2 + b2 > c2, where a and b are the lengths of the other sides.
• A triangle with one interior angle measuring more than 90° is an obtuse
triangle or obtuse-angled triangle. If c is the length of the longest side,
then a2 + b2 < c2, where a and bare the lengths of the other sides.
• A triangle with an interior angle of 180° (and collinear vertices)
is degenerate.
• A right degenerate triangle has collinear vertices, two of which are
coincident.
A triangle that has two angles with the same measure also has two sides with
the same length, and therefore it is an isosceles triangle. It follows that in a
triangle where all angles have the same measure, all three sides have the same
length, and such a triangle is therefore equilateral.
 Bisector is the ray that divides an angle into two equal parts. The bisectors of
a triangle are cut at a point called Incentro, which is the center of the inscribed
circle.

Perpendicular bisector of a segment is the line perpendicular to it at its

midpoint. The perpendiculares bisectors of the sides of a triangle are cut at a
point called Circumcenter, which is the center of the circumscribed
circumference.

Height is the perpendicular segment between a vertex and the opposite side.
The heights of a triangle are cut at a point called Orthocenter
 Median is the segment between a vertex and the midpoint of the opposite
side. The medians of a triangle intersect at a point called the Barycenter, which
is the center of gravity of the triangle

Quadrilateral

Some types of quadrilaterals

Edges and vertices 4

 Schläfli symbol {4} (for square)

Area various methods;

see below

Internal 90° (for square and

angle(degrees) rectangle)

In Euclidean plane geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four edges (or

sides) and four vertices or corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used,
by analogy with triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency
with pentagon (5-sided), hexagon (6-sided) and so on.