Triangle see that the Earth's surface is locally flat: If we draw an arbitrarily small triangle in the neighborhood of one point on the Earth's surface, the fraction "f" of the Earth's surface which is enclosed by the triangle will be arbitrarily close to zero. In this case the angle sum formula simplifies to 180°, which we know is what Euclidean geometry tells us for triangles on a flat surface. Rectangles have been the most popular and common geometric form for buildings since the shape is easy to stack and organize; as a standard, it is easy to design furniture and
Hyperbolic triangle side with the corresponding letter) is strictly less than a straight angle. The difference between the measure of a straight angle and the sum of the measures of a triangle's angles is called the defect of the triangle. The area of a hyperbolic triangle is equal to its defect multiplied by the square of : This theorem, first proven by Johann Heinrich Lambert, is related to Girard's theorem in spherical geometry. In all the formulas stated below the sides , , and must be measured in absolute length, a unit so that the Gaussian curvature of the plane is −1.