Understanding Quadrilaterals
A polygon is a simple closed curve made up of only line segments. Polygons can be classified as convex, where all diagonals lie inside, or concave, where at least one diagonal lies outside.
A regular polygon is both equiangular (all angles are equal in measure) and equilateral (all sides are of equal length). If a polygon is not regular, it is called an irregular polygon.
The sum of the measures of the four interior angles of any quadrilateral is always .
The sum of the measures of the exterior angles of any convex polygon, with one angle taken at each vertex, is always . This is true regardless of the number of sides.
For a regular polygon with sides, the measure of each exterior angle is . Conversely, the number of sides can be found by .
A parallelogram is a quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. Its key properties are: (1) Opposite sides are equal. (2) Opposite angles are equal. (3) Diagonals bisect each other.
The adjacent angles in a parallelogram are supplementary, which means their sum is . If and are adjacent, then .
A trapezium is a quadrilateral that has exactly one pair of parallel sides. If the non-parallel sides are equal in length, it is called an isosceles trapezium.
A kite is a quadrilateral with two distinct pairs of equal-length consecutive sides. Its diagonals are perpendicular to each other, and one of the diagonals bisects the other.
A rhombus is a parallelogram with all four sides of equal length. A key property is that its diagonals are perpendicular bisectors of one another.
A rectangle is a parallelogram where every angle is a right angle (). A key property is that its diagonals are of equal length and they bisect each other.
A square is a rectangle with equal sides, making it a regular quadrilateral. Its diagonals are equal, bisect each other, and are perpendicular to each other.
A square is a special kind of rectangle and rhombus. A rectangle and a rhombus are special kinds of parallelograms. A parallelogram is a special kind of trapezium.