ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Congruent Triangles Videos 8 videos

SSS Postulate
9700 Views

This postulate helps us compare congruent triangles. We'll get to Einstein's postulates regarding special relativity and inertial frames of referen...

SAS, ASA, AAS
2622 Views

This video is sort of a PSA for SAS, ASA, and AAS. This stuff might show up on the ACT, so watch it ASAP.

Proving Triangles Congruent 2
994 Views

As you'll see, we use cats' ears to explore the congruency of various triangles. Oh, calm down and stop dialing the the Humane Society. They're sti...

See All

SSS Postulate 9700 Views


Share It!


Description:

This postulate helps us compare congruent triangles. We'll get to Einstein's postulates regarding special relativity and inertial frames of reference next week. Or, um, maybe in three years or so…

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

SSS Postulate, a la Shmoop.

00:09

Ever since Mr. Purple and Mrs. Yellow became next-door neighbors,

00:12

they've had a little rivalry going on between them.

00:15

They are always trying to outdo each other.

00:17

When Mr. Purple had his old BMW fixed,

00:19

Mrs. Yellow bought a shiny new one.

00:22

When Mrs. Yellow put up lights and animatronic lawn ornaments for Christmas last year…

00:27

…Mr. Purple put a giant inflatable Santa on his lawn and gave out free candy canes to all the kids

00:32

Most recently, Mr. Purple had his front lawn redesigned into the shape of a triangle…

00:37

…and it was no surprise to him that two months later, Mrs. Yellow did the same.

00:41

The only question was… whose lawn was bigger?

00:45

If the two triangular lawns look like this, whose lawn is larger:

00:49

Mr. Purple's or Mrs. Yellow's?

00:54

To settle this dispute, we can find out whether or not the triangular lawns are congruent.

00:59

Remember if two triangles are congruent, that means all their side lengths and all their angle

01:04

measures are exactly equal.

01:06

Basically, the triangles are identical to each other.

01:09

In this case, our two triangles both have sides of lengths 6 feet, 8 feet, and 10 feet.

01:15

We know that when two sides are equal in length, they're congruent.

01:20

So the 6-foot sides are congruent to each other, the 8-foot sides are congruent to each other...

01:25

…and there's only one 10-foot side, which is congruent to itself, obviously.

01:29

If you're curious about the geometric way to say this, it's called Reflexive Property.

01:37

It's when something equals itself.

01:42

To prove that two shapes are congruent, we need to make sure all the side lengths and

01:46

angle measures are congruent.

01:48

But triangles are special. Really special.

01:51

Instead of finding all the angle measures, we can use a shortcut called Side-Side-Side,

01:57

or SSS Postulate.

02:03

The Side-Side-Side Postulate says that if all three sides of one triangle are congruent

02:08

to all three sides of another triangle, both these triangles are congruent.

02:13

Basically, with SSS, we don't need to worry about angle measures.

02:17

As long as we can prove that all three sides of both triangles are congruent, we can say

02:21

with absolute certainty that the triangles themselves are congruent.

02:26

Since we know the sides of Mr. Purple's lawn are 6 feet, 8 feet, and 10 feet in length…

02:31

and the sides of Mrs. Yellow's lawn are 6 feet, 8 feet, and 10 feet in length…

02:36

…we can say that, according to the SSS Postulate, the two triangles are congruent to each other.

02:43

So Mrs. Yellow's lawn and Mr. Purple's lawn are the exact same size.

02:47

Guess who doesn’t exactly believe in ties?

Related Videos

Triangles
6458 Views

This video covers the different types of triangle. What makes a triangle isosceles, scalene, or equilateral? What about the different kinds of angl...

SOHCAHTOA
4616 Views

Sine is the opposite over the hypotenuse; cosine is the adjacent over the hypotenuse; and tangent is the opposite side over the adjacent side....

Proving Triangles Congruent
3286 Views

Someday you might be a big, fancy defense lawyer, and you'll have to prove that your client's triangle was congruent to the triangle in question. W...

Centers of a Triangle
573 Views

You might not think that the properties of a triangle would be particularly helpful in the realm of Tootsie Pop lickology. But boy, would you be wr...

All You Need to Know about Triangles
697 Views

How does learning about triangle angles and types of triangles while being told a story about Goldilocks sound to you? Not too shabby. Grab a snack...