Non-Congruent Triangles

Date: 12/12/2001 at 21:41:47

From: Z
Subject: Proof
Construct and prove that there can be two non-congruent triangles in
which five parts of one triangle are equal to five parts of another.
Date: 12/13/2001 at 12:58:18
From: Doctor Peterson
Subject: Re: Proof
Hi,
The five parts will be all but one of the three sides and three
angles. If two angles of each triangle equal two in the other, then
the third will be the same in both triangles also (since their sum is
180 degrees); so we can't have only two angles congruent, and the five
parts must be two sides and all three angles.
If all three angles are the same (in some order), the triangles will
be similar. So all you need is to find a way in which two (noncorresponding) side lengths are the same in the two triangles. If
corresponding sides were congruent (that is, a pair of sides for which
the angle between them was also the same in both triangles), then the
triangles would be congruent by SAS.
So suppose the triangles, placed with congruent angles in
corresponding places, look like this:
+
b / \ a
/
\
+--------+
c

c /
/

\b
/
\
+-----------+
d

Here both triangles have a side b and a side c, but the third side is
a in one and d in the other. We know the triangles are similar; can
you find a set of lengths that work?
- Doctor Peterson, The Math Forum
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
Date: 12/13/2001 at 13:36:25
From: Doctor Rob
Subject: Re: Proof
Thanks for writing to Ask Dr. Math.
If two triangles have five parts equal, then they have at least two

angles equal. That implies that they have all three angles equal,
since the sum of measures of the three angles of a triangle is 180
degrees. (How does this imply that?) Let the triangles be ABC and
A'B'C'. Label the vertices so that AB = B'C' < BC = A'C'. (Why is this
possible?) We know that <A = <A', <B = <B', and <C = <C'. That means
that the triangles are similar. (Why?) That implies that corresponding
sides are in proportion:
AB/A'B' = BC/B'C' = AC/A'C',
and we let this common ratio be called r, where r > 1. (Why?) Thus
AB = r*A'B', BC = r*B'C', and AC = r*A'C'. Then
AC = r*A'C' = r*BC = r^2*B'C' = r^2*AB = r^3*A'B'.
Now the triangle inequality theorem and r > 1 together imply that
AC < AB + BC,
r^2*AB < AB + r*AB,
r^2 < 1 + r,
1 < r < (1+sqrt[5])/2 = 1.6180339887....
(Why?) For any value of r satisfying this condition, and any x > 0,
there is a pair of noncongruent triangles sharing their three angles
and two side lengths, with side lengths given by the formulas
A'B' =
x,
AB = B'C' =
r*x,
BC = A'C' = r^2*x,
AC
= r^3*x.
(The four side lengths form a geometric progression.)
Feel free to write again if I can help further.
- Doctor Rob, The Math Forum
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/

Similar Triangles
Similar triangles have the same shape, but the size may be different.

Remember "" means "is congruent to" and "~" is "similar to". Examples
Corresponding
Triangles

Corresponding
Congruent
Angles

Corresponding Proportional Sides

ABC ~ FDE

<A <F

a/f = 6/3 = 2

a/f = b/d = c/e = factor

b/d = 8/4 = 2

<B <D
c/e = 10/5 = 2
<C <E

ABC FDE

<A <F

a/f = 3/3 = 1

<B <D

b/d = 4/4 = 1

<C <E

c/e = 5/5 = 1

Two triangles are similar if:

two pairs of corresponding angles are congruent (therefore the
third pair of corresponding angles are also congruent).
the three pairs of corresponding sides are proportional.
Notice the corresponding angles for the two triangles in the applet are the same. The
corresponding sides lengths are the same only when the scale factor slider is set at 1.0.
Study the side lengths closely and you will find that the corresponding sides are
proportional.