Proof that exterior angles of a triangle sum to 360

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the proof that the sum of the external angles of a triangle equals 360 degrees. Participants clarify that each vertex of a triangle has two external angles, leading to confusion about which angles to sum. The correct formulation is established as the sum of the three external angles, denoted as a', b', and c', equaling 360 degrees, derived from the relationship with the internal angles of the triangle. The mathematical expressions provided confirm that a' + b' + c' = 360 degrees through various formulations.

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Mr Davis 97
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So I am working on this simple proof, but am confused about the term "external angle." The problem says that if ##a##, ##b##, and ##c## are external angles to a triangle, then ##a + b + c = 360##. However, is seems that the vertex of each triangle has two possible external angles, since there are two line segments that converge to that point (the vertex). So this would mean that there are 6 possible external angles for the triangle. So when it says to sum 3 of them, I'm not sure which ones, or how.
 
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triangle.png


Here we have ##a+b+c= 180°## as it is always the case with planar triangles.
Therefore ##3\cdot 360° = 1080°## and ##1080° -180° = 900° = a' + b' +c'##.

The only chance I see to get ##360°## by somehow external angles would be this:

triangle1.png


Now we have ##a'+b'+c' = \frac{1}{2} (3 \cdot 360° - (2a+2b+2c)) = 540° - (a+b+c) = 540° - 180° = 360°##
or ##a'+b'+c' = 3\cdot 180° - (a+b+c) = 2 \cdot 180° = 360°##
 

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