Proof - The Summit Angles of a Saccheri Quadralateral are Congruent.

The Saccheri Quadralateral

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The Saccheri Quadralateral was created by Girolamo Saccheri (1667-1733), a professor at the University of Pavia, in an attempt to prove Euclid's fifth postulate by contradiction. While it did not fulfill its original purpose, the Saccheri Quadralteral has become an important part of Hyperbolic Geometry.

The Saccheri Quadralateral is constructed by taking an arbitrary line (AB in the diagram), and constructing two lines of equal length (AD and BC) that are perpendicular to the original line (AB). The points D and C are then connected with a line.

To prove that the line FE is perpendicular to both BC and AD, we must first prove that the summit angles (angle ABC and angle DCF) are congruent.

Proof that the Summit Angles of a Saccheri Quadralateral are Congruent

  1. To show: That angle ABC is congruent to angle BCD.
  2. It is given that angle BAD and angle CDE are congruent and both measure 90 degrees.
  3. Since AB is congruent to DC by construction, and AD is congruent to AD by same line, we can conclude that triangle ABD is congruent to triangle DCA by SAS.
  4. Since corresponding parts of congruent triangles are congruent (CPCTC), we can conclude that BD is congruent to CA.
  5. Since CD is congruent to CD by same segment, we can conclude that triangle BCD is congruent with triangle CBA by SSS.
  6. We can now conclude by CPCTC that angle ABC is congruent to BCD. QED.