Geometry

1.

Introduction

The key to geometrys importance lies in the clever explanations and proofs for the fundamental theorems that students learn at the middle school level. These explanations and proofs are not only the key to gaining a fuller understanding of geometry, but also to being able to think outside of the box and use geometry in new and creative ways. We end up spending less time on exposing students to these important concepts because they are a bit more advanced and getting students comfortable with these ideas sometimes takes more time than is available to us, although it is certainly worthwhile. This really sets a bar for how much advanced students are able to learn and what they are capable of doing with the things that they learn. We want our students to excel, but by giving them a theorem to memorize that applies only to a specific abstract type of problem, without any explanation as to why that theorem holds, we limit what they are able to do with it. This section will proceed under the assumption that students have not been exposed to these proofs in class. One of the first things that students learn about the congruence of triangles is the side-angle-side postulate. Without a full understanding of why this theorem holds, it is impossible to fully understand its applications, or proofs that involve this postulate. It is quite simple: Given two triangles ABC and DEF we know that: AB = DE ABC = BC = EF

Since AB = DE, you could place the line segment DE over AB and A would coincide with D and B would coincide with E. Next, since ABC = and BC = EF, we can place the line segment EF over BC so that E and B coincide and C and F coincide. This all amounts to placing one triangle over the other, and knowing that all the points will coincide. Since A and D coincide and C and F coincide, AC must be the same length as DF, and the other angles must be equal as well. Although we will not go over them here, the proofs for side-side-side, angleside-angle and other criteria for congruence are all very intuitive and are

worthwhile to look into with students. Once the students are comfortable with these, we can use them to prove other important theorems such as pons asinorum in a way that will foster a fuller understanding: Given that the two sides, AB and AC, of a triangle are equal, we can draw the angle bisector in at BAC, and then prove that both sides of the triangle are congruent by side-angleside. Since both sides are congruent, ABC = ACB. We can also prove the converse statement that given two equal angles, two sides must be equal. If we reflect our triangle as shown in the figure to the left, we can prove that CAB CBA by angle-side-angle. This means that CA = CB, and since CB is a reflection of CB, CA = CB. Another theorem that is typically not fully explained to students is the sum of angles theorem for triangles. Typically students will be asked to cut a triangle out of paper, rip the corners off, and put them together to find that they form a straight line of 180 , though they are never actually shown the mechanics behind it. In the diagram to the left, a, b, and c form a random triangle. A line passes through one of the sides of the triangle and another runs parallel to it through the opposite vertex. Since the lines are parallel, we can show that a = d and c = e because they are alternate interior angles. This means that a, b, and c form a straight line and therefore their sum is 180 . Before showing this to students be sure that they have a firm understanding of the mechanics behind why certain pairs of angles are equal when you have two lines that are parallel and a transversal. Another clever way to prove this to students, that can also be used to prove the sum of angles of a polygon with any number of sides, is as follows: In the diagram to the right, ABC is a random triangle, and we want to know what the sum of its interior angles is. We imagine a car driving parallel to AB. When the car reaches point B, it must turn CBY to be parallel to BC. If the car continues this process until it ends up where it started, it will have made a net turn of 360 . This means that CBY + ACZ + BAX = 360 . From the diagram we can see that CAB = 180 - BAX.

Likewise we can define ABC and BCA in terms of their exterior angles. So it follows that: CAB + ABC + BCA = (180 - BAX) + (180 - CBY) + (180 - ACZ) but since BAX + CBY + ACZ = 360 , we have: CAB + ABC + BCA = 180 + 180 + 180 - 360 = 180 Try this same method with polygons of different sizes to prove what the sum of their angles is. This sort of proof allows students to really get a feel for why the sum of angles in a triangle must always be 180 , and how it would be absurd to think that its angles would not add up to 180 . The following is a clever proof of Pythagoras theorem: Each triangle with side lengths a, b, and c in the diagram to the right is meant to be any random right-angled triangle. We can see that by shifting the position of the square ABCD within the outer square, we can get right-angle triangles with any proportion that we wish. The proof is simple; it simply uses the fact that the area of the outer square is equal to the area of the inner square plus the area of the four identical triangles: (a + b)2 = c2 + 4( ab) a2 + 2ab + b2 = c2 +2ab a2 + b2 = c2

2.

Sample Problems 1) Why can you move the blocks around and end up with the same sized triangle, but one square is missing?

This is more of an optical illusion than anything, but what you want is for students to understand that moving pieces around cannot change the total area, and the fact that a square is missing in the second triangle should be shocking. The key to understanding what is going on is that the blue and red triangles are not forming a straight line because their slopes are different. Although students might not get this without a little help, the point is to get them to understand that because the slopes are different, they do not form a straight line, and by switching the positions we increase or decrease the perceived area. 2) If each of these blocks is 8cm x 8cm x 8cm, what is the distance between the two corners marked with dots? This is a great problem because it forces the students to think spatially and apply the mathematics that they already know to something tangible. It also forces them to break the problem down into logical parts because it is not something that they have a formula to calculate, although they could develop a formula for it as an extra challenge. Here is another problem that requires the same sort of spatial thinking in order to solve it: 3) An ant starts at corner A and walks along the surface of the rectangular prism to corner B. What is the shortest possible distance for the ant to travel? Although at first glance it may seem like there is not enough information to solve this problem, simply drawing the net for this prism will change the problem to finding the distance between two points. At this point it is easy to see what the shortest distance would be, but the idea is getting students to think in some capacity to get to this point. A good problem will get the students to try to rearrange it in order to be solvable with the mathematics that they already know, rather than having an obvious method for finding its answer.

3. Resources 1) Geogebra Great free math program. Can be used for many types of math, but is specifically useful for geometry. http://www.geogebra.org/en/wiki/index.php/Main_Page is a page devoted to Geogebra help, but also features plenty of free interactive downloadable Georgebra files that cover concepts from all areas of mathematics and at all grade levels.

2) http://www.gieson.com/Library/projects/games/matter/ A great online tangrams game Very good for developing spatial thinking and estimating sizes and lengths

3) http://www.planetseed.com/sciencelanding/geometry-and-spatialreasoning Site is full of great geometry problems that require some level of thinking in order to work toward a solution, rather than straight application of theorems Has puzzles of varying difficulty for students at different grade levels

4) http://www.gamepuzzles.com/pparlor/puzzleparlmm.html Website with some great geometry puzzles and games

5) Book: Proof Without Words: Exercises in Visual Thinking

Although some of the examples in the book are too advanced for students at this level, there are some that would be great for students at this level (They may need some help with understanding what the pictures are trying to prove)

6) http://www.khanacademy.org/math/geometry Website has a large amount of math videos explaining how to solve geometry problems Has a selection of videos that give proofs for basic geometric theorems