Congruence (geometry) size. (Most definitions consider congruence to be a form of similarity, although a minority require that the objects have different sizes in order to qualify as similar.) For two polygons to be congruent, they must have an equal number of sides (and hence an equal number—the same number—of vertices). Two polygons with "n" sides are congruent if and only if they each have numerically identical sequences (even if clockwise for one polygon and counterclockwise for the other) side-angle-side-angle-... for "n" sides and "n" angles. Congruence of polygons can be established graphically as follows: If at any time the step cannot
Similarity (geometry) G.D. Birkhoff (see Birkhoff's axioms) the SAS similarity criterion given above was used to replace both Euclid's Parallel Postulate and the SAS axiom which enabled the dramatic shortening of Hilbert's axioms. Similar triangles provide the basis for many synthetic (without the use of coordinates) proofs in Euclidean geometry. Among the elementary results that can be proved this way are: the angle bisector theorem, the geometric mean theorem, Ceva's theorem, Menelaus's theorem and the Pythagorean theorem. Similar triangles also provide the foundations for right triangle trigonometry. The concept of similarity extends to polygons with more than three sides. Given any two