Elliptic geometry geometry is that the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is greater than 180 degrees. In the spherical model, for example, a triangle can be constructed with vertices at the locations where the three positive Cartesian coordinate axes intersect the sphere, and all three of its internal angles are 90 degrees, summing to 270 degrees. For sufficiently small triangles, the excess over 180 degrees can be made arbitrarily small. The Pythagorean theorem fails in elliptic geometry. In the 90°–90°–90° triangle described above, all three sides have the same length, and consequently do not satisfy formula_1. The Pythagorean result
Skinny triangle based on the small-angle approximations; and, when formula_5 is in radians. The proof of the skinny triangle solution follows from the small-angle approximation by applying the law of sines. Again referring to figure 1; The term formula_7 represents the base angle of the triangle and is this value because the sum of the internal angles of any triangle (in this case the two base angles plus "θ") are equal to "π". Applying the small angle approximations to the law of sines above results in; the desired result. This result is equivalent to assuming that the length of the base of