One special kind of polygons is called a parallelogram. It is a quadrilateral where both pairs of opposite sides are parallel. Show There are six important properties of parallelograms to know:
$$\triangle ACD\cong \triangle ABC$$ If we have a parallelogram where all sides are congruent then we have what is called a rhombus. The properties of parallelograms can be applied on rhombi. If we have a quadrilateral where one pair and only one pair of sides are parallel then we have what is called a trapezoid. The parallel sides are called bases while the nonparallel sides are called legs. If the legs are congruent we have what is called an isosceles trapezoid. In an isosceles trapezoid the diagonals are always congruent. The median of a trapezoid is parallel to the bases and is one-half of the sum of measures of the bases. The properties of the parallelogram are simply those things that are true about it. These properties concern its sides, angles, and diagonals. The parallelogram has the following properties:
If you just look at a parallelogram, the things that look true (namely, the things on this list) are true and are thus properties, and the things that don’t look like they’re true aren’t properties. If you draw a picture to help you figure out a quadrilateral’s properties, make your sketch as general as possible. For instance, as you sketch your parallelogram, make sure it’s not almost a rhombus (with four sides that are almost congruent) or almost a rectangle (with four angles close to right angles). If your parallelogram sketch is close to, say, a rectangle, something that’s true for rectangles but not true for all parallelograms (such as congruent diagonals) may look true and thus cause you to mistakenly conclude that it’s a property of parallelograms. Capiche? Imagine that you can’t remember the properties of a parallelogram. You could just sketch one (as in the above figure) and run through all things that might be properties. (Note that this parallelogram does not come close to resembling a rectangle of a rhombus.) The following questions concern the sides of a parallelogram (refer to the preceding figure).
The following questions explore the angles of a parallelogram (refer to the figure again).
The following questions address statements about the diagonals of a parallelogram
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