{"id":66972,"date":"2018-07-10T15:45:58","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T15:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/?p=66972"},"modified":"2018-07-10T15:45:58","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T15:45:58","slug":"proving-or-disproving-triangles-are-similar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/2018\/07\/10\/proving-or-disproving-triangles-are-similar\/","title":{"rendered":"Proving (or Disproving) Triangles are Similar"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><b>Definition: <\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similar triangles have equal corresponding angles and proportional sides. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are three main methods to prove triangles are similar. The information provided in the question dictates which approach to attempt. Below are the details on each. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Side-Side-Side Similarity:<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use this method when the lengths of all three sides of both triangles are known . The goal is to show that the ratio between each pair of corresponding sides is equal. This is accomplished by creating and evaluating fractions out of the pairs of corresponding sides. When performing these calculations, there are two important things to note:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important that only corresponding sides are compared. (ie. in a right angle triangle, the two hypotenuses would be compared in the fraction) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The values in the numerator must all be from the same triangle; likewise the values in the denominator must all be from the same triangle. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If all of the ratios are the same, this means the sides are proportional, which \u00a0is the definition of a similar triangle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Ex:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The following triangles are similar since <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3 \/ 9 = <\/span><b>1 \/ 3<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4 \/ 12 = <\/span><b>1 \/ 3<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 \/ 15 = <\/span><b>1 \/ 3<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-66973\" src=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-300x155.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"155\" srcset=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-300x155.jpg 300w, https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture.jpg 476w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><b>Angle-Angle Similarity:<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use this method when given:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of the angles in both triangles <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Information that allows you to solve for the angles<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Information that allows you to prove the angles in one triangle \u00a0are congruent to the angles in the other triangle. (This will be the case when no numbers are provided in the problem) <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The goal is to show that two of the angles are the same in each triangle. Because the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is always 180 degrees, knowing two of the angles are the same means we know the third angle must be the same as well. Note that some schools require this reasoning to be included with the proof as well. This means that if two of the angles in a triangle match two of the angles in the other triangle (equal corresponding angles), then the triangles are similar.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Ex: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The following triangles are similar since it\u2019s given that two of the angles in each triangle are the same. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-66974\" src=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-1-300x171.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-1-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-1.jpg 452w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><b>Side-Angle-Side Similarity: <\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use this method when presented with an \u00a0\u201cangle sandwich\u201d in each triangle. This term refers to the situation where an angle, as well as the two sides surrounding it, are defined. If the angles apart of the \u201cangle sandwich\u201d are the same, check if the ratios between the two pairs of corresponding sides are equal (as described in side-side-side similarity above). Once this is proven to be true, it\u2019s enough information to conclude that they\u2019re similar triangles. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Ex: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The following triangles are similar since the angles are equal and <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3 \/ 7 = <\/span><b>.43<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3 \/ 7 = <\/span><b>.43<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-66975\" src=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-2-300x164.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"164\" srcset=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-2-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/07\/Capture-2.jpg 399w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If any of the above cases are false, then the triangles are not similar! Explaining why is an acceptable disproof. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Interested in <a href=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/math-tutoring\/\">math tutoring services<\/a>? Learn more about how we are assisting thousands of students each academic year.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" title=\"SchoolTutoring Academy\" href=\"https:\/\/www.schooltutoring.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SchoolTutoring Academy<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>is the premier educational services company for K-12 and college students. We offer tutoring programs for students in K-12, AP classes, and college. To learn more about how we help parents and students in <a href=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/tutoring-in-escondido-california\/\">Escondido, CA<\/a>: visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/Tutors\/CA\/\">Tutoring in Escondido, CA.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition: Similar triangles have equal corresponding angles and proportional sides. \u00a0 There are three main methods to prove triangles are similar. The information provided in the question dictates which approach to attempt. Below are the details on each. Side-Side-Side Similarity: Use this method when the lengths of all three sides of both triangles are known [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":66976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,3016,18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-math-fundamentals","category-resources","category-trigonometry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}