Download Proofs with CPCTC

Proofs with CPCTC
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C ONCEPT
Concept 1. Proofs with CPCTC
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Proofs with CPCTC
Learning Objectives
• Apply various triangle congruence postulates and theorems.
• Know the ways in which you can prove parts of a triangle congruent.
As you can see, there are many different ways to prove that two triangles are congruent. It is important to know all
of the different ways that can prove congruence, and it is important to know which combinations of sides and angles
do not
Congruence Theorem Review
As you have studied in the previous lessons, there are five theorems and postulates that provide different ways in
which you can prove two triangles congruent without checking all of the angles and all of the sides. It is important
to know these five rules well so that you can use them in practical applications.
TABLE 1.1:
Name
SSS
Corresponding congruent parts
Three sides
Picture
Does it prove congruence?
Yes
SAS
Two sides and the angle
between them
Yes
ASA
Two angles and the side
between them
Yes
AAS
Two angles and a side not
Yes
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TABLE 1.1: (continued)
Name
HL
Corresponding congruent parts
The hypotenuse and a leg
in a right triangle
Picture
Does it prove congruence?
Yes
Example 1
What rule can prove that the triangles below are congruent?
A. SSS
B. SAS
C. ASA
D. AAS
The two triangles in the picture have two pairs of congruent angles (6 DCE ∼
= 6 ORN and 6 CED ∼
= 6 RNO) and one
∼
pair of corresponding congruent sides (DC = OR).
So, the triangle congruence postulate you choose must have two AS (for the side). You can eliminate choices A and
B for this reason.
Now that you are deciding between choices CD, you need to identify where the side is located in relation to the
given angles. It is adjacent to one angle, but it is not in between them.
Therefore, you can prove congruence using AAS.
The correct answer is D.
Reading Check:
1. The two triangles below are SAS postulate. Mark the SAS congruent parts with tic marks and arcs:
2. True/False:SSS, SAS, ASA, AAS, and HL (in a right triangle) are 5 different ways to prove that triangles are
congruent.
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Concept 1. Proofs with CPCTC
Proving Parts Congruent
It is one thing to identify congruence when all of the important identifying information is provided, but sometimes
you will have to identify congruent parts on your own. This may take a bit of thought, and you must use some
deductive reasoning (finding conclusions based on facts) to find the missing parts.
When you were creating proofs, you also used the reflexive property of congruence. This property states that any
segment or angle is congruent to itself. While this may sound obvious, it can be very helpful in proofs, as you saw
in those examples.
Recall that, if two triangles are congruent, then all pairs of corresponding sides and all pairs of corresponding angles
are congruent.
We say that the Corresponding Parts (sides and angles) of Congruent Triangles are Congruent, or CPCTC.
Reading Check:
1. What is a
2. What does it mean for parts to be
3. Explain in your own words whatCPCTC means.
How do we use the concept of CPCTC in a proof?
Check out the example on the following page. . .
Example 2
How could you prove that segment
We can see that BC ∼
= CE and AC ∼
= CD because of the tic marks in the figure.
Think of all of the postulates and theorems (in the chart at the beginning of Lesson 7 and in your graphic organizer)
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that have 2 S’sAB ∼
= DE and we cannot yet make this assumption.
Can we show that two of the anglescongruent?
Notice that 6 BCA and 6 ECD are vertical angles (non-adjacent angles made by the intersection of two lines—i.e.,
angles on the opposite sides of the intersection).
The Vertical Angle Theorem states that all vertical angles are also congruent.
So, this tells us that 6 BCA ∼
= 6 ECD.
We now have two congruent sidesangle between the sides!
• The congruent sides are:
___________ ∼
= ___________ and ___________ ∼
= ___________
• The congruent angles are:
_______________ ∼
= _______________
By putting all of this information together, you can confirm that ∆ABC ∼
= ∆DEC by the SAS Postulate.
Finally, if the two triangles are congruent, then their corresponding parts are congruent
Therefore segment AB is congruent to segment DE by CPCTC.
Reading Check:
1. In the space below, draw a picture of two triangles that are ASA postulate. Make sure to mark the congruent
parts with tic marks and arcs!
2. If you know that 2 pairs of angles and 1 pair of sides are congruent in your picture above, what other parts of the
triangles are congruent? (Hint: there are 3 answers!)
3. Your answers to question #2 above are true because ofCPCTC. The letters CPCTC stand for: (Fill in the blanks)
______________________ ______________________ of ________________________ ________________________ are _________________________ .
Finding Distances (a real-word application)
One way to use congruent triangles is to help you find distances in real life—usually using a map or a diagram as a
model.
When using congruent triangles to identify distances, be sure you always match up corresponding sides. The most
common error on this type of problem involves matching two sides that are not
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Concept 1. Proofs with CPCTC
Example 3
The map below shows five different towns. The town of Meridian is exactly halfway between two pairs of cities: it
is halfway between Camden and Grenata AND it is halfway between Lowell and Morsetown.
Using the information in the map, what is the distance between Camden and Lowell?
The first step in this problem is to identify whether or not the triangles drawn on the map are congruent.
Since you know that the distance from Camden to Meridian is the same as Meridian to Grenata (since Meridian is
halfway between those cities), those two sides of the triangles are congruent
Similarly, since the distance from Lowell to Meridian is the same as Meridian to Morsetown (again because Meridian
is halfway between), those two sides are also a congruent
Finally, you can tell that the angles between these lines (at the intersection where Meridian is) are also congruentvertical angles.
With all of your congruent sides and angles marked, your map will look like this:
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So, by the SAS postulate, these two triangles are congruent.
This allows us to find the distance between Camden and Lowell by identifying its corresponding side on the other
triangle. Because they are both opposite the vertical anglecorresponds to the side connecting Morsetown and
Grenata.
Since the triangles are congruent, these corresponding sides will also be congruent to each other. Therefore, the
distance between Camden and Lowell is 5 miles.
This use of the definition of congruent triangles is one of the most powerful tools you will use in geometry class! It
is often abbreviated as CPCTC, meaning Corresponding Parts of Congruent Triangles are Congruent.
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