History, Sets, and Lines

Von Christopher G. Chua, MST

Session Objectives
For this chapter, graduate students in education are expected to
develop the following learning competencies:
1. Review the idea of sets and
apply them to geometric
elements.

3. Relate notions of distance

between points to the Ruler
Postulate

2. Explain how the Distance

Postulate conveys an
understanding of the relation
between numbers and points.

4. Develop the basic vocabulary of

lines, segments and rays.

This slideshow presentation will be made available through the classs official website,
mathbychua.weebly.com. The site will also provide access to download this file in printable
format.

The Development of
Geometry
Looking back into the past in preparation for the present.

Geometry Discussed
Geometry is the branch of Mathematics
concerned with the study of shapes, sizes,
relative configurations, and spatial
properties.
It began with a need to measure shapes.
Ancient Egyptians demonstrated a practical
knowledge of geometry through surveying
and construction projects.

The Rhind Papyrus

Significant Events
Ancient clay tablets reveal that the Babylonians knew the
Pythagorean relationships. In one clay tablet was written

4 is the length and 5 the diagonal. What is the breadth?

Its size is not known. 4 times 4 is 16. 5 times 5 is 25. You
take 16 from 25 and there remains 9. What times what
shall I take in order to get 9? 3 times 3 is 9. 3 is the
breadth.

Father of Geometry
Ancient Greeks practiced centuries of
experimental geometry. Euclid formalized
geometry by organizing it with rules of
logic through The Elements.
The document is composed of thirteen books.
Book 1-6: Plane Geometry
Book 7-9: Number Theory
Book 10: Eudoxus Theory of Irrational
Numbers
Book 11-13: Solid Geometry

Father of Geometry
Ancient Greeks practiced centuries of
experimental geometry. Euclid formalized
geometry by organizing it with rules of
logic through The Elements.
The document is composed of thirteen books.
Book 1-6: Plane Geometry
Book 7-9: Number Theory
Book 10: Eudoxus Theory of Irrational
Numbers
Book 11-13: Solid Geometry

Euclid of
Alexandria

The Original Postulates

Euclids Postulates
1. A straight line segment can be drawn joining any two points.
2. Any straight line segment can be extended indefinitely in a
straight line.
3. Given any straight line segment, a circle can be drawn having
the segment as radius and one endpoint as center.
4. All right angles are congruent.

Significant Events
The Fifth Postulate
If two lines are drawn which intersect a third in such a way that the
sum of the inner angles on one side is less than two right angles,
then the two lines inevitably must intersect each other on that side
if extended far enough. This postulate is equivalent to what is
known as the parallel postulate.
As assignment, explain Mathematicians struggle with Euclids fifth postulate. Then,
describe under which conditions the postulate does not hold true.

Significant Events

Contemporary geometry has many subfields: Euclidean

geometry, differential geometry, topology, algebraic
geometry, and fractal geometry.

Sets, Real Numbers,

Lines
Setting up the foundation for studying Geometry

Sets
A set is a well-defined group of objects.
Sets can be denoted in various methods: roster method,
description method, or set-builder notation.
= 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
= {, 1 5}

= , [1, 5]
Each object in a set is called an element.
2 , 7
The number of elements in a set denotes its cardinality.
=5

Sets
If one set, A, contains every element of another set, B,
then B is a subset of A. In symbols,

Every set is a subset of itself. All other subsets are called

proper subsets except this.

Operations on Sets
The union of sets A and B, denoted by , is the set
containing those elements that belong to A, B, or both.
=

The intersection of sets A and B, denoted by , is the

set containing elements belonging to both A and B
=

Operations on Sets
The complement of a set A, denoted by , is the set of all
elements found in the universal set, U, that are not found
in set A.
= ,
The difference between sets A and B, denoted by ,
is the set containing elements belonging to A but not to B
=

Operations on Sets
In the figure, the sets A, B, C, and are circular
regions and P, Q, R, S and T are points. Determine
if each of the following statements is true or false.

( )

( )

(, )

( )

A
Q

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

TRUE
R

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

TRUE
R

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

FALSE
R

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

TRUE

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

(, )

TRUE

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

FALSE

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

TRUE
R

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

FALSE
R

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

( )

FALSE
R

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

( )

TRUE

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

TRUE
In fact, =

S D
C

Operations on Sets
B

A
Q

( )

TRUE
R

S D
C

The Starting Point

The Undefined Terms of Geometry: Point, Line, and Plane
Subsets of a Line: Segments and Rays

Conditional Statement and its Converse, Inverse,

Contrapositive, and Biconditional counterparts

The Starting Point

Conditional: If the sky is cloudless, then the day is bright.
Hypothesis (Premise)
Conclusion

Conditional statements are of the if p, then q form. Where p is the

premise and q is the conclusion. In symbols, .
Converse: If the day is bright, then the sky is cloudless.
Inverse: If the sky is NOT cloudless, then the day is NOT bright.
Contrapositive: If the day is NOT bright, then the sky is NOT
cloudless.
Biconditional: The day is bright IF AND ONLY IF the sky is
cloudless.

Postulates and Theorems

Postulate 1

THE DISTANCE POSTULATE

To every pair of different points, there corresponds a
unique positive number

Postulates and Theorems

Postulate 2

THE RULER POSTULATE

The points of a line can be placed in correspondence with the
real numbers in such a way that:
(1) to every point of the line there corresponds exactly one
real number;
(2) to every real number there corresponds exactly one point
of the line; and
(3) the distance between any two points is the absolute value
of the difference of the corresponding numbers

Postulates and Theorems

Postulate 3

THE RULER PLACEMENT POSTULATE

Given two points and of a line, the coordinate system can
be chosen in such a way that the coordinate of is zero and
the coordinate of is positive.

Definitions
Theorem 21
If , , and are three points of the same line, then exactly
one of them is between the other two.

is between and if,

(1) , , and are different points of the same line; and
(2) + =
When is between and , we write or

Postulates and Theorems

Theorem 22
THE POINT-PLOTTING THEOREM
Let be a ray and be a positive number. Then there
is exactly one point of such that = .

Postulates and Theorems

Postulate 4

THE LINE POSTULATE

For every two points, there is exactly one line that contains both
points.

Definitions
The number is the length of the segment
A point is called a midpoint of a segment if is
between and and = .
Theorem 2-3
Every segment has exactly one midpoint.