How do you do two column geometrical proofs? help!?

Question

for example:

well i cant really give one or id have to draw the shape but can anybody help!
i was absent the day they taught them and i have a quiz tomorrow grrr!

Answer 1

on column is the statement and the other is the reasons for it.
examples of reason are: postulates, theorms, correlries, properties, definitions or the given information.

Answer 2

This won't be anything great, but it might help you fake your way through ...

The two columns usually have "Statements" on the left and "Reasons" on the right.

The first reason is almost always "Given". If it says in the problem that something is given, copy that as the statement. If the problem is phrased in "if/then" form, copy the "if" part. Usually you also make sure everything has a name in the first statement, so if the problem says "If an equilateral triangle ..." you'd write "ΔABC is equilateral" for the statement.

The last statement will always be what you want to prove. You'll copy the "prove" from the problem or the "then" part of the "if/then" statement. So, if it said "... then the triangle is equiangular", you'd say "ΔABC is equiangular".

The idea of the middle parts is that you'll lead, one statement at a time, from the given to the prove. If you've been gone, chances are you'll screw this up. However, what you want to do is look for key words or symbols in a statement (things like "equilateral" or "congruent"). Most often the next reason after that will be the definition of that term. The statement will be whatever the definition says, related to your specific problem (like AB = BC if you were using "definition of congruent"). Other possible reasons are postulates or theorems that have come up in the chapter you're doing. You may want to look for shaded boxes in the chapter and learn what the different theorems mean. Finally, you can also use the properties of algebra. In particular the transitive property (if a = b and b = c, then a = c) is one of the most used reasons in a geometry proof. (When in doubt, put "transitive" for your last reason.)

I know that's a pretty lame explanation, but hopefully it's better than nothing. Good luck with the quiz!