A compass and straightedge construction is the provable creation of a geometric figure on the Euclidean plane or complex plane such that the figure is created using only a compass, a straightedge, and specified geometric figures. Typically, if no preexisting geometric figure is specified, the tacit assumption is that one can use a line segment of length 1.
Moreover, in such instances , one can specify what length represents 1 , but it must remain constant throughout the construction. A geometric figure is constructible if it can be made from a compass and straightedge construction.
One has to be very careful with the terminology associated with compass and straightedge constructions. As another example, the following is an erroneous argument regarding compass and straightedge constructions:.
Then I can measure the distance between the two endpoints with my compass. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! See synonyms for straightedge on Thesaurus. We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms. Words nearby straightedge straight-backed , straight bat , straight bill of lading , straight-chain , straight chair , straightedge , straighten , straighten out , straighten up , straight face , straight fight.
An idealized mathematical object having a rigorously straight edge which can be used to draw a line segment. Although geometric constructions are sometimes said to be performed with a ruler and compass , the term straightedge is preferable to ruler since markings on the straightedge usually assumed to be present on a ruler are not allowed by the classical Greek rules.
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