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 it; this is the exterior angle theorem. The sum of the measures of the three exterior angles (one for each vertex) of any triangle is 360 degrees. Two triangles are said to be "similar" if every angle of one triangle has the same measure as the corresponding angle in the other triangle. The corresponding sides of similar triangles have lengths that are in the same proportion, and this property is also sufficient to establish similarity. Some basic theorems about similar triangles are: Two triangles that are congruent have exactly the same size and shape: all pairs of corresponding interior angles