Proposition VII. Theorem.
[Euclid, ed. Lardner, 1855, on Google Books]
| (67) | On the same right line (A B), and on the same side of it, there cannot be constructed two triangles, (A C B, A D B) whose conterminous sides (A C and A D, B C and B D) are equal. |
If it be possible, let the two triangles be constructed, and,
First,—Let the vertex of each of the triangles be without the other triangle, and draw C D.
Because the sides A D and A C of the triangle C A D are equal (hyp., [see note]), the angles A C D and A D C are equal (V); but A C D is greater than B C D (51), therefore A D C is greater than B C D; but the angle B D C is greater than A D C (51), and therefore B D C is greater than B C D; but in the triangle C B D, the sides B C and B D are equal (hyp.), therefore the angles B D C and B C D are equal (V); but the angle B D C has been proved to be greater than B C D, which is absurd: therefore the triangles constructed upon the same right line cannot have their conterminous sides equal, when the vertex of each of the triangles is without the other.
Secondly,—Let the vertex D of one triangle be within the other; produce the sides A C and A D, and join C D.
Because the sides A C and A D of the triangle C A D are equal (hyp.), the angles E C D and F D C are equal (V); but the angle B D C is greater than F D C (51), therefore greater than E C D; but E C D is greater than B C D (51), and therefore B D C is greater than B C D; but in the triangle C B D, the sides B C and B D are equal (hyp.), therefore the angles B D C and B C D are equal (V); but the angle B D C has been proved to be greater than B C D, which is absurd: therefore triangles constructed on the same right line cannot have their conterminous sides equal, if the vertex of one of them is within the other.
Thirdly,—Let the vertex D of one triangle be on the side A B of the other, and it is evident that the sides A B and B D are not equal.
Therefore in no case can two triangles, whose conterminous sides are equal, be constructed at the same side of the given line.
Book I: Euclid, Book I (ed. Dionysius Lardner, 11th Edition, 1855)
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This proposition in other editions:
This proposition seems to have been introduced into the Elements merely for the purpose of establishing that which follows it. The demonstration is that form of argument which logicians call a dilemma, and a species of argument which seldom occurs in the Elements. If two triangles whose conterminous sides are equal could stand on the same side of the same base, the vertex of the one must necessarily either fall within the other or without it, or on one of the sides of it: accordingly, it is successively proved in the demonstration, that to suppose it in any of these positions would lead to a contradiction in terms. It is not supposed that the vertex of the one could fall on the vertex of the other; for that would be supposing the two triangles to be one and the same, whereas they are, by hypothesis, different.
In the Greek text there is but one (the first) of the cases of this proposition given. It is however conjectured, that the second case must have been formerly in the text, because it is the only instance in which Euclid uses that part of the fifth proposition which proves the equality of the angles below the base. It is argued, that there must have been some reason for introducing into the fifth a principle which follows at once from the thirteenth; and that none can be assigned except the necessity of the principle in the second case of the seventh. The third case required to be mentioned only to preserve the complete logical form of the argument.
Note regarding Hypotheses
[This note occurs as a footnote in printed editions, referenced in the course of the proof of Proposition VII.]The hypothesis means the supposition; that is, the part of the enunciation of the proposition in which something is supposed to be granted true, and from which the proposed conclusion is to be inferred. Thus in the seventh proposition the hypothesis is, that the triangles stand on the same side of their base, and that their conterminous sides are equal, and the conclusion is a manifest absurdity, which proves that the hypothesis must be false.
In the fourth proposition the hypothesis is, that two sides and the included angle of one triangle are respectively equal to two sides and the included angle of the other; and the conclusion deduced from this hypothesis is, that the remaining side and angles in the one triangle are respectively equal to the remaining side and angles in the other triangle.