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Mathematics - Secondary Curriculum Secondary Mathematics I
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Standard G.CO.8

Explain how the criteria for triangle congruence (ASA, SAS, and SSS) follow from the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motions.

  • Are the Triangles Congruent?
    The purpose of this task is primarily assessment-oriented, asking students to demonstrate knowledge of how to determine the congruency of triangles.
  • Congruence Criterion
    The goal of this task is to establish the SSS congruence criterion using rigid motions.
  • GEOMETRY - Congruence (G.CO) - Sec Math I Core Guide
    The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and educators around the state of Utah developed these guides for the Secondary Mathematics I - Congruence (G.CO).
  • Introduction to the Materials (Math 1)
    Introduction to the Materials in the Mathematics One of the The MVP classroom experience begins by confronting students with an engaging task and then invites them to grapple with solving it. As students ideas emerge, take form, and are shared, the teacher orchestrates the student discussions and explorations towards a focused mathematical goal. As conjectures are made and explored, they evolve into mathematical concepts that the community of learners begins to embrace as effective strategies for analyzing and solving problems.
  • Module 7: Congruence, Construction & Proof - Student Edition (Math 1)
    The Mathematics Vision Project, Secondary Math One Module 7, Congruence, Construction, and Proof, begins by developing constructions as another tool to be used to reason about figures and to justify properties of shapes. Individual constructions are not taught for the sake of memorizing a series of steps, but rather to reason using known properties of shapes such as circles.
  • Module 7: Congruence, Construction & Proof - Teacher Notes (Math 1)
    The Mathematics Vision Project, Secondary Math One Module 7 Teacher Notes, Congruence, Construction, and Proof, begins by developing constructions as another tool to be used to reason about figures and to justify properties of shapes. Individual constructions are not taught for the sake of memorizing a series of steps, but rather to reason using known properties of shapes such as circles.
  • Properties of Congruent Triangles
    The goal of this task is to understand how congruence of triangles, defined in terms of rigid motions, relates to the corresponding sides and angles of these triangles.
  • Reflections and Equilateral Triangles
    This activity is one in a series of tasks using rigid transformations of the plane to explore symmetries of classes of triangles, with this task in particular focusing on the class of equilaterial triangles.
  • Reflections and Equilateral Triangles II
    This task examines some of the properties of reflections of the plane which preserve an equilateral triangle: these were introduced in ''Reflections and Isosceles Triangles'' and ''Reflection and Equilateral Triangles I''.
  • Reflections and Isosceles Triangles
    This activity is one in a series of tasks using rigid transformations of the plane to explore symmetries of classes of triangles, with this task in particular focussing on the class of isosceles triangles.
  • When Does SSA Work to Determine Triangle Congruence?
    The triangle congruence criteria, SSS, SAS, ASA, all require three pieces of information. It is interesting, however, that not all three pieces of information about sides and angles are sufficient to determine a triangle up to congruence. In this problem, we considered SSA. Also insufficient is AAA, which determines a triangle up to similarity. Unlike SSA, AAS is sufficient because two pairs of congruent angles force the third pair of angles to also be congruent.
  • Why Does ASA Work?
    The two triangles in this problem share a side so that only one rigid transformation is required to exhibit the congruence between them. In general more transformations are required and the "Why does SSS work?'' and "Why does SAS work?'' problems show how this works.
  • Why does SAS work?
    For these particular triangles, three reflections were necessary to express how to move from ABC to DEF. Sometimes, however, one reflection or two reflections will suffice. Since any rigid motion will take triangle ABC to a congruent triangle DEF, this shows the remarkable fact that any rigid motion of the plane can be expressed as one reflection, a composition of two reflections, or a composition of three reflections.
  • Why does SSS work?
    This particular sequence of transformations which exhibits a congruency between triangles ABC and DEF used one translation, one rotation, and one reflection.


UEN logo http://www.uen.org - in partnership with Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and Utah System of Higher Education (USHE).  Send questions or comments to USBE Specialist - Lindsey  Henderson and see the Mathematics - Secondary website. For general questions about Utah's Core Standards contact the Director - Jennifer  Throndsen.

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