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 inequality ≥ b ≥ c" and "formula_8" is the golden ratio, as In the case of right triangles, the triangle inequality specializes to the statement that the hypotenuse is greater than either of the two sides, and less than their sum. The second part of this theorem is already established above for any side of any triangle. The first part is established using the lower figure. In the figure, consider the right triangle . An isosceles triangle is constructed with equal sides . From the triangle postulate, the angles in the right triangle satisfy: Likewise, in the isosceles triangle , the