Rules of angles (7–9)

Contents
1 basic rules of angles 1

2 Angles in parallel lines (7–9) 2

3 Angles in polygons (year 9) 4

3.1 The central angle in a regular polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2 The exterior angle of any polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3 The interior angle of any polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1 basic rules of angles

There are various Rules of angles that you should know. These can be used in any geometrical
diagram to work out missing angles without the diagram having to be drawn to scale. We do
not need a protractor since the rule will give us the exact answer. The basic rules you should
know are:

Angles on a straight line add to 180◦

x

55˚ x + 55 = 180 Angles on a straight line

x = 125◦

Angles at a point add to 360◦

y

y + 92 + 151 = 360 Angles at a point

92˚ y + 243 = 360
151˚
y = 117◦

Vertically opposite angles are equal

Note: this is not like angles at a point since here we are dealing with where two straight lines
intersect, like a pair of scissors:

1
 z
63˚ z = 63◦ Vertically opposite angles

Angles in a triangle add to 180◦

a
a + 47 + 52 = 180 Angles in a triangle
a + 99 = 180
a = 81◦
47˚ 52˚

Angles in a quadrilateral add to 360◦

b
120˚ b + 120 + b + 120 = 360 Angles in a quadrilateral
2b + 240 = 360
120˚ 2b = 120
b
b = 30◦
Notice how, in each case, we set out our working clearly using a logical algebraic layout and
we always give the reason for a particular angle.

Example. Find x and y in the following diagram:

To find x:
b
120˚
x + 75 = 180 Angles on a straight line
x = 105◦
120˚
b
To find y:

y = 85◦ Vertically opposite angles

2 Angles in parallel lines (7–9)

When a line passes through a pair of parallel lines, this line is called a transversal:

2
 l
sa
er
sv
an
Tr
A transversal creates three letters of the alphabet which hide 3 new rules of angles:

Alternate angles Corresponding angles Interior angles

are equal are equal add to 180◦
(Z-angles) (F-angles) (C-angles)
Have a look at these examples:

70˚

c = 70◦ Alternate angles

c

d
d + 75 = 180 Interior angles
75˚ d = 105◦

72˚
e = 72◦ Corresponding angles
d = 105◦

e Note that the “F” is back to front!

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 28˚

m m = 28◦ Corresponding angles

m + n = 180◦ Angles on a straight line
n
n = 152◦

Angles in quadrilaterals
We have already seen that the angles in any quadrilateral add up to 360◦ . There is an interesting
special case that allows us to use what we have just learned about angles in parallel lines:
In a parallelogram, angles next to each other make a “C”
shape (interior angles). This means that they add up to
40˚
140˚ 180◦ . Therefore,
140˚
40˚ In a parallelogram, opposite angles are
equal.

3 Angles in polygons (year 9)

• A polygon is a shape with straight sides.

• A regular polygon has all sides and all angles equal.

We may need to find several angles in polygons.

3.1 The central angle in a regular polygon

The angles sit around a circle and so add to 360◦ . Each

angle is 360 ÷ n, where n is the number of sides of the
polygon.
E.g. here we have a hexagon:

Each angle is 360 ÷ 6 = 60◦

4
3.2 The exterior angle of any polygon

In any polygon, the exterior angles are found where the

extension of a side meets the next side, as the diagram
shows. Since these extensions all form a “windmill” ef-
fect, their total turn is equivalent to a full circle.

Sum of exterior angles = 360◦

Example. What is the exterior angle of a regular pentagon?

Each angle is equal as the pentagon is regular. Therefore,

Each angle = 360 ÷ 5
= 72◦

3.3 The interior angle of any polygon

We know that:
• in a triangle, interior angles add to 180◦ ;
• in a quadrilateral, interior angles add to 360◦ .
If we follow the pattern, we notice that the total goes up by 180◦ each time.

But why is this? If we take one vertex of any polygon and join it to all of the others, we create
triangles:

4
3
2 3
1 2
2
1 1

Quadrilateral Pentagon Hexagon

2 triangles: 2 × 180 = 360◦ 2 triangles: 3 × 180 = 540◦ 2 triangles: 4 × 180 = 720◦
Notice also that the number of triangles needed is always two less than the number of sides in
the polygon. So in general:

 
Sum of
= 180(n − 2), where n is the number of sides
interior angles

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Moreover, if the polygon is regular, we can divide the sum by n to obtain the size of each
interior angle. The following table sums these up for a few polygons:

Number of sides n 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Number of triangles n − 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Sum of angles 180(n − 2) 180 360 540 720 900 1080 1260 1440
180(n−2)
Each angle if regular n
60 90 108 120 128.57 135 140 144

Example. What is the missing angle below?

140˚ In a pentagon, the sum of the interior angles is 540◦ .

88˚
x + 135 + 130 + 75 + 120 = 540
x
x + 460 = 540
x = 80◦
127˚ 94˚

Example. What is the size of any interior angle in a regular dodecagon? (NB A dodecagon
has 12 sides)

A 12 sided shape can be divided into 10 triangles.

Sum of interior angles = 10 × 180◦

= 1800◦

Therefore

Each interior angle = 1800 ÷ 12

= 150◦