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Once you have mastered the idea of points, lines and

planes, the next thing to consider is what happens


when two lines or rays meet at a point, creating
an angle between them.
Angles are used throughout geometry, to describe
shapes such as polygons and polyhedrons, and to
explain the behaviour of lines, so it’s a good idea to
become familiar with some of the terminology, and how
we measure and describe angles.

What is an Angle?
Angles are formed between two rays extending from a single point:

Angles are commonly drawn as an arc (part of a circle), as above.

Properties of Angles
Angles are measured in degrees, which is a measure of circularity, or
rotation.

A full rotation, which would bring you back to face in the same direction, is
360°. A half-circle is therefore 180°, and a quarter-circle, or right angle, is
90°.
Two or more angles on a straight line add up to 180°. In the diagram above, the circle to
the left is split into three sectors the angles of the green and white sectors are both 90°,
adding up to 180°.

The figure to the right shows that angles a and b also add up to 180°. When you look at
the diagram like this, it’s easy to see this, but it’s also surprisingly easy to forget in
practice.

Naming Different Angles


An angle less than 90° is said to be acute, and one greater than 90° but less
than 180° is obtuse.

An angle of exactly 180° is said to be straight. Angles greater than 180° are
called reflex angles.
Different angles can be demonstrated on a clock face. The hour hand of the clock moves
round as time passes through the day. The angle of the rotation is highlighted in green.

Opposite Angles: Intersecting Lines


When two lines intersect, the opposite angles are equal. In this case, not
only are a and a the same, but, of course, a and b add up to 180°:

Intersections with parallel lines: a bit of a special case


Our page An Introduction to Geometry introduces the concept of parallel
lines: lines that go on forever side by side and never cross, like railway
lines.
The angles around any lines intersecting parallel lines also have some interesting
properties.

If two parallel lines are intersected by a third straight line, then the angle at which the
intersecting line crosses will be the same for both parallel lines.

The two angles a and the two angles b are said to be corresponding.

You will also immediately see that a and b add up to 180°, since they are on a straight
line.

Angle c, which you will realise from the previous section is identical to a, is said to
be alternate with a.

Z and F Angles

c and a are called z-angles, because if you follow the line from the top
of c to the bottom of a, it forms the shape of a z (in red in the diagram
above).
a and a are said to be F-angles, because the line forms an F shape
from the bottom of the upper angle a down and around to the bottom
of the lower angle a (in green in the diagram)

Measuring Angles
A protractor is commonly used to measure angles. Protractors are usually
circular or semi-circular and made of transparent plastic, so that they can
be placed over shapes drawn on a piece of paper, allowing you to take a
measurement of the angle.
This example demonstrates how to use a protractor to measure the three angles of a
triangle, but the same method applies to other shapes or any angles that you want to
measure.

 Line up the central mark on the base of your protractor with the vertex, or point
at which the lines meet. The triangle has three vertices, one for each angle to
measure.
 Most protractors have a bi-directional scale meaning that you can take a
measurement in either direction. Make sure you use the correct scale – you should
be able to tell easily if your angle is greater than or less than 90° and therefore use
the right scale. If you’re not sure, take a quick look back to our section on naming
angles.

In this example the recorded angles are A=90° B=45° and C=45°.
Polygons are often defined by their internal angles, and the total of the internal angles
depends on the number of sides. For example, the internal angles of a triangle always add
up to 180°. For more about this, see our page on Polygons.

Moving on…
Once you understand about angles, and how to measure them, you can put
this into practice with polygons and polyhedrons of all kinds, and also use
your knowledge to calculate area (there is more about this in our page
on Calculating Area).
Read more at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/num/angles.html

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