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In geometry, an isosceles triangle (/ aɪ ˈ s ɒ s ə l iː z /) is a triangle that has two sides of equal length or two angles of equal measure. Sometimes it is specified as having exactly two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having at least two sides of equal length, the latter version thus including the equilateral triangle as a special case.
An equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides have the same length, and all three angles are equal. Because of these properties, the equilateral triangle is a regular polygon, occasionally known as the regular triangle. It is the special case of an isosceles triangle by modern definition, creating more special properties.
Triangles have many types based on the length of the sides and the angles. A triangle whose sides are all the same length is an equilateral triangle, [3] a triangle with two sides having the same length is an isosceles triangle, [4] [a] and a triangle with three different-length sides is a scalene triangle. [7]
The difference in area for an equilateral triangle is small, just over 1%, [2] but as Howard Eves pointed out, for an isosceles triangle with a very sharp apex, the optimal circles (stacked one atop each other above the base of the triangle) have nearly twice the area of the Malfatti circles. [3] In fact, the Malfatti circles are never optimal.
There are several elementary results concerning similar triangles in Euclidean geometry: [9] Any two equilateral triangles are similar. Two triangles, both similar to a third triangle, are similar to each other (transitivity of similarity of triangles). Corresponding altitudes of similar triangles have the same ratio as the corresponding sides.
In the latter double inequality, the first part holds with equality if and only if the triangle is isosceles with an apex angle of at least 60°, and the last part holds with equality if and only if the triangle is isosceles with an apex angle of at most 60°. Thus both are equalities if and only if the triangle is equilateral. [7]: Thm. 1