Intermediate Geometry : Parallelograms

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Intermediate Geometry

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Example Questions

Example Question #11 : How To Find An Angle In A Parallelogram

A paralellogram as two angles that are 65 degrees and 115 degrees respectively.  What are the other two angles in the paralellogram?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This question is very simple to answer if you remember that ALL paralellograms have two pairs of equal and opposite angles, and that the four angles in any quadrilateral MUST add up to 360 degrees. 

Because the angles given are different, we know that they are supplementary and the other two missing angles MUST be the same.

Example Question #32 : Parallelograms

Given: Regular Pentagon  with center . Construct segments  and  to form Quadrilateral .

True or false: Quadrilateral  is a parallelogram.

Possible Answers:

True

False

Correct answer:

False

Explanation:

Below is regular Pentagon  with center , a segment drawn from  to each vertex - that is, each of its radii drawn.

Pentagon a

The measure of each angle of a regular pentagon can be calculated by setting  equal to 5 in the formula

and evaluating:

Specifically, 

By symmetry, each radius bisects one of these angles. Specifically, 

By the Same-Side Interior Angles Theorem, consecutive angles of a parallelogram are supplementary - that is, their measures total . However,

,

violating these conditions. Therefore, Quadrilateral  is not a parallelogram.

Example Question #371 : Plane Geometry

Given: Quadrilateral  such that  and .

True or false: It follows that Quadrilateral  is a parallelogram.

Possible Answers:

False

True

Correct answer:

False

Explanation:

, making  and  supplementary. By the Converse of the Same Side Interior Angles Theorem, , it does follow that . However, without knowing the measures of the other two angles, nothing further can be concluded about Quadrilateral . Below are a parallelogram and a trapezoid, both of which have these two angles of these measures.

Parallelograms

Example Question #12 : How To Find An Angle In A Parallelogram

Given: Parallelogram such that and .

True or false: It follows that Parallelogram is a rectangle.

Possible Answers:

False

True

Correct answer:

True

Explanation:

By the Same-Side Interior Angles Theorem, consecutive angles of a parallelogram can be proved to be supplementary - that is, their angle measures total . Specifically,  and are a pair of supplementary angles. Since they are also congruent, it follows that both are right angles. For the same reason,  and  are also right angles. The parallelogram, having four right angles, is a rectangle by definition.

 

Example Question #31 : Parallelograms

Given: Rectangle  with diagonals  and  intersecting at point .

True or false:  must be a right angle.

Possible Answers:

True

False

Correct answer:

False

Explanation:

The diagonals of a parallelogram are perpendicular - and, consequently,  is a right angle. - if and only if the parallelogram is a rhombus, a figure with four sides of equal length. Not all rectangles have four congruent sides.  Therefore,  need not be a right angle.

Example Question #371 : Plane Geometry

Given: Parallelogram  such that .

True or false: Parallelogram  must be a rectangle.

Possible Answers:

True 

False

Correct answer:

True 

Explanation:

A rectangle is a parallelogram with four right angles.

Consecutive angles of a parallelogram are supplementary. If one angle of a parallelogram is given to be right, then its neighboring angles, being supplementary to a right angle, are right as well; also, opposite angles of a parallelogram are congruent, so the opposite angle is also right. All four angles must be right, making the parallelogram a rectangle by definition.

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Length Of The Side Of A Parallelogram

Find the perimeter of the following box in inches: 

Geo_box

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The answer is

 

You can find the perimeter by adding all of its respective sides as such:

Adding like terms will result in  

 

 If you chose , you multiplied the two sides to find the area. 

If you chose , you only added two sides. Perimeter involves all 4 sides; so double the width and length. 

Just remember, the width is 12 added to .  Not 12 times the side of

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Length Of The Side Of A Parallelogram

A parallelogram has an area of . If the height is , what is the length of the base?

Possible Answers:

Cannot be determined 

Correct answer:

Explanation:

If the area of a parallelogram is given as  with a height of , we can refer back to the equation for the area of a parallelogram:

, where  is height and  is the length of the base. 

This very quickly becomes a problem of substituting in values and finding the value of an unknown variable, in this case, 

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Length Of The Side Of A Parallelogram

A parallelogram has a base of  and an area of . What is the height of the parallelogram?
 

Possible Answers:

 

 

 

 

Correct answer:

 

Explanation:

In order to find the height of this parallelogram apply the formula: 



Example Question #4 : How To Find The Length Of The Side Of A Parallelogram

A parallelogram has a height of  and an area of . What is the length of the base of the parallelogram? 

Possible Answers:

 

  

 

 

Correct answer:

  

Explanation:

To find the missing side of this parallelgram apply the formula: 

Thus, the solution is: 



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