Thales's theorem theorem is named after Thales because he was said by ancient sources to have been the first to prove the theorem, using his own results that the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal, and that the sum of angles in a triangle is equal to 180°. Dante's "Paradiso" (canto 13, lines 101–102) refers to Thales's theorem in the course of a speech. The following facts are used: the sum of the angles in a triangle is equal to 180° and the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal. Since = = , ∆OBA and ∆OBC are isosceles
Triangle of the lengths of any two sides of a triangle must be greater than or equal to the length of the third side. That sum can equal the length of the third side only in the case of a degenerate triangle, one with collinear vertices. It is not possible for that sum to be less than the length of the third side. A triangle with three given positive side lengths exists if and only if those side lengths satisfy the triangle inequality. Three given angles form a non-degenerate triangle (and indeed an infinitude of them) if and only if both