A triangle or trigon is a polygon consisting of three sides connected at three corners. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry and the simplest of polygons. The corners, also called vertices, are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called edges, are one-dimensional line segments. A triangle has three internal angles, each one bounded by a pair of adjacent sides; the sum of angles of a triangle always equals a straight angle (180 degrees or π radians). The triangle is a plane figure and its interior is a planar region. Sometimes an arbitrary edge is chosen to be the base, in which case the opposite vertex is called the apex; the shortest segment between the base and apex is the height. The area of a triangle equals one-half the product of height and base length. In Euclidean geometry, any two points determine a unique line segment situated within a unique straight line, and any three points that do not all lie on the same straight line determine a unique triangle situated within a unique flat plane. More generally, four points in three-dimensional Euclidean space determine a solid figure called tetrahedron. In non-Euclidean geometries, three "straight" segments also determine a "triangle", for instance, a spherical triangle or hyperbolic triangle. A geodesic triangle is a region of a general two-dimensional surface enclosed by three sides that are straight relative to the surface (geodesics). A curvilinear triangle is a shape with three curved sides, for instance, a circular triangle with circular-arc sides. (This article is about straight-sided triangles in Euclidean geometry, except where otherwise noted.) Triangles are classified into different types based on their angles and the lengths of their sides. Relations between angles and side lengths are a major focus of trigonometry. In particular, the sine, cosine, and tangent functions relate side lengths and angles in right triangles.
Definition, terminology, and types A triangle is a figure consisting of three line segments, each of whose endpoints are connected. These line segments are called the sides, and the endpoints or corners are called the vertices or angles. Hence, this forms a polygon with three sides and three angles. The terminology for categorizing triangles is more than two thousand years old, having been defined in Book One of Euclid's Elements. The names used for modern classification are either a direct transliteration of Euclid's Greek or their Latin translations. Triangles have many types based on the length of the sides and the angles: Regarding the length of the sides, a triangle with two sides having the same length is an isosceles triangle,. A triangle with all sides having the same length is an equilateral triangle. And a triangle with all sides having different lengths is a scalene triangle.
Regarding the angles, a triangle in which one of the angles is a right angle (90° angle) is a right triangle. A triangle in which all of its angles are less than 90° is an acute triangle. And a triangle in which one of its angles is greater than 90° is an obtuse triangle.
Appearances
All types of triangles are commonly found in real life. In man-made construction, the isosceles triangles may be found in the shape of gables and pediments, and the equilateral triangle can be found in the yield sign. The faces of the Great Pyramid of Giza are sometimes considered to be equilateral, but more accurate measurements show they are isosceles instead. Other appearances are in heraldic symbols as in the flag of Saint Lucia and flag of the Philippines, and a structure used in molecular geometry. Triangles also appear in three-dimensional objects. A polyhedron is a solid whose boundary is covered by flat polygonals known as the faces, sharp corners known as the vertices, and line segments known as the edges. Polyhedra in some cases can be classified, judging from the shape of their faces. For example, when polyhedra have all equilateral triangles as their faces, they are known as deltahedra. Antiprisms have alternating triangles on their sides. Pyramids and bipyramids are polyhedra with polygonal bases and triangles for lateral faces; the triangles are isosceles whenever they are right pyramids and bipyramids. The Kleetope of a polyhedron is a new polyhedron made by replacing each face of the original with a pyramid, and so the faces of a Kleetope will be triangles. More generally, triangles can be found in higher dimensions, as in the generalized notion of triangles known as the simplex, and the polytopes with triangular facets known as the simplicial polytopes.
Properties
Points, lines, and circles associated with a triangle
Each triangle has many special points inside it, on its edges, or otherwise associated with it. They are constructed by finding three lines associated symmetrically with the three sides (or vertices) and then proving that the three lines meet in a single point. An important tool for proving the existence of these points is Ceva's theorem, which gives a criterion for determining when three such lines are concurrent. Similarly, lines associated with a triangle are often constructed by proving that three symmetrically constructed points are collinear; here Menelaus' theorem gives a useful general criterion. In this section, just a few of the most commonly encountered constructions are explained. A perpendicular bisector of a side of a triangle is a straight line passing through the midpoint of the side and being perpendicular to it, forming a right angle with it. The three perpendicular bisectors meet in a single point, the triangle's circumcenter; this point is the center of the circumcircle, the circle passing through all three vertices. Thales' theorem implies that if the circumcenter is located on the side of the triangle, then the angle opposite that side is a right angle. If the circumcenter is located inside the triangle, then the triangle is acute; if the circumcenter is located outside the triangle, then the triangle is obtuse.
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