37 Basic Geometric Shapes and Figures（37个基本几何图形和数据）.pdf

37 Basic Geometric Shapes and Figures In this section we discuss basic geometric shapes and figures such as points, lines, line segments, planes, angles, triangles, and quadrilaterals. The three pillars of geometry are points, lines, and planes: A point is an undefined term used to describe for example a location on a map. A point has no length, width, or thickness and we often use a dot to represent it. Points are usually labeled with uppercase letters. Line is another basic term of geometry. Like a point, a line is an undefined term used to describe a tightly stretched thread or a laser beam. We can say that a line is a straight arrangement of points. A line has no thickness but its length goes on forever in two directions as shown in Figure 37.1. The arrows represent the fact that the line extends in both directions forever. A line is often named by a lowercase letter such as the line k in Figure 37.1. Figure 37.1 The subset of the line k consisting of all points between A and B together with A and B forms a line segment denoted by AB . We call A the left endpoint and B the right endpoint. The distance between the endpoints is known as the length of the line segment and will be denoted by AB. Two line segments with the same length are said to be congruent. Any three or more points that belong to the same line are called collinear. See Figure 37.2 Figure 37.2 Three noncollinear points (also knwon as coplanar points) determine a plane, which is yet another undefined term used to describe a flat space such as a tabletop. 1 Subsets of a plane are called plane shapes or planes figures. We have already discussed a geometric figure, namely, a line. Another important exampl