Similarity and Proof

Understand congruence in terms of rigid motions. Use geometric descriptions of rigid motions to transform figures and to predict the effect of a given rigid motion on a given figure; given two figures, use the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motions to decide if they are congruent.

Understand congruence in terms of rigid motions. Use the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motions to show that two triangles are congruent if and only if corresponding pairs of sides and corresponding pairs of angles are congruent.

Prove geometric theorems. Prove theorems about triangles. Theorems include: measures of interior angles of a triangle sum to 180°; base angles of isosceles triangles are congruent; the segment joining midpoints of two sides of a triangle is parallel to the third side and half the length; the medians of a triangle meet at a point. Clarification: Theorems include but are not limited to the listed theorems. Example: an exterior angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of the two non-adjacent interior angles of the triangle

Understand similarity in terms of similarity transformations. Verify experimentally the properties of dilations given by a center and a scale factor: A dilation takes a line not passing through the center of the dilation to a parallel line, and leaves a line passing through the center unchanged. The dilation of a line segment is longer or shorter in the ratio given by the scale factor.

Understand similarity in terms of similarity transformations. Given two figures, use the definition of similarity in terms of similarity transformations to decide if they are similar; explain using similarity transformations the meaning of similarity for triangles as the equality of all corresponding pairs of angles and the proportionality of all corresponding pairs of sides.

Understand similarity in terms of similarity transformations. Use the properties of similarity transformations to establish the AA criterion for two triangles to be similar.

Prove theorems involving similarity. Prove theorems about triangles. Theorems include: a line parallel to one side of a triangle divides the other two proportionally, and conversely; the Pythagorean Theorem proved using triangle similarity. Clarification: Theorems include but are not limited to the listed theorems. Example: the length of the altitude drawn from the vertex of the right angle of a right triangle to its hypotenuse is the geometric mean between the lengths of the two segments of the hypotenuse.

Prove theorems involving similarity. Use congruence and similarity criteria for triangles to solve problems and to prove relationships in geometric figures. Clarification: ASA, SAS, SSS, AAS, and Hypotenuse-Leg theorem are valid criteria for triangle congruence. AA, SAS, and SSS are valid criteria for triangle similarity.

Experiment with transformations in the plane. Represent transformations in the plane using, e.g., transparencies and geometry software; describe transformations as functions that take points in the plane as inputs and give other points as outputs. Compare transformations that preserve distance and angle to those that do not (e.g., translation versus horizontal stretch).

Experiment with transformations in the plane. Given a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, draw the transformed figure using, e.g., graph paper, tracing paper, or geometry software. Specify a sequence of transformations that will carry a given figure onto another.

Make geometric constructions. Make formal geometric constructions with a variety of tools and methods (compass and straightedge, string, reflective devices, paper folding, dynamic geometric software, etc.). Copying a segment; copying an angle; bisecting a segment; bisecting an angle; constructing perpendicular lines, including the perpendicular bisector of a line segment; and constructing a line parallel to a given line through a point not on the line. Clarification: Constructions include but are not limited to the listed constructions. Example: constructing the median of a triangle or constructing an isosceles triangle with given lengths.