Tech News
← Back to articles

A triangle whose interior angles sum to zero

read original related products more articles

Spherical geometry

In spherical geometry, the interior angles of a triangle add up to more than π. And in fact you can determine the area of a spherical triangle by how much the angle sum exceeds π. On a sphere of radius 1, the area equals the triangle excess

Area = E = interior angle sum − π.

Small triangles have interior angle sum near π. But you could, for example, have a triangle with three right angles: put a vertex on the north pole and two vertices on the equator 90° longitude apart.

Hyperbolic geometry

In hyperbolic geometry, the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is always less than π. In a space with curvature −1, the area equals the triangle defect, the difference between π and the angle sum.

Area = D = π − interior angle sum.

Again small triangles have an interior angle sum near π. Both spherical and hyperbolic geometry are locally Euclidean.

The interior angle sum can be any value less than π, and so as the angle sum goes to 0, the triangle defect, and hence the area, goes to π.

The figure below has interior angle sum 0 and area π in hyperbolic geometry.

... continue reading