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Unit 1: The Modern Axiomatic System

Lesson: Undefined Terms, Initial Postulates and Theorems

Intended learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, the pre service teachers should be able to,

1. discuss the three undefined terms.

2. give real life illustration that represents the undefined terms.
3. differentiate theorem from postulate and vice versa.
4. discuss the underlying postulates and theorems in Euclidean geometry.

Introduction:

Several early civilizations studied areas, lengths and volumes and their
discoveries were the beginnings of Geometry, one of the major fields of
mathematics.

The word Geometry came from the two Greek words “geo” means earth and
“metria” means measurement. Hence, geometry means earth measurement.
Interestingly, through Geometry, a mathematician named Eratosthenes measures
the circumference of the Earth following some basic geometrical concepts.
On the other hand, in geometry, the terms point, line and plane are described
but not defined. These concepts were accepted intuitively, but bever defined and
that includes the
 straightness of a line,
 the flatness of a plane,
 the notion that a point on a line lies between two other points on the line,
 the notion that a point lies in the interior or exterior of an angle.
Moreover, other terms that is included all throughout the discussion of Geometry
will be defined in the later part.

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xplore

Group the following based on their common characteristics. You may use the
following categories, POINT, LINE, PLANE.
1. A pinhead
2. A dot on a piece of paper
3. A road or highway on a map
4. edge of your geometry book
5. a period
6. a page of a newspaper
7. the edge where the ceiling and a wall of your classroom meet
8. the screen of a television set
9. the sharp end of a pin
10.a magic wand
11.A wire or string stretched between two points
12.A flat table top
13.A single location on a map
14.The tip of a pencil
15.A blackboard or whiteboard
16.The surface of a mirror or glass
17.A single pixel on a computer screen
18.A straight edge of a ruler
19.A line on a piece of paper
20.The edge of a book or magazine
21.A flat screen TV or computer monitor
22.A piece of paper or cardboard

xplain

1. What is the common characteristic of objects classified as point, line,

plane?
2. How do you distinguish between a line and a plane, line and point, point
and plane?
3. What is the significance of understanding these basic geometric concepts
in real-life applications?

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laborate
In all branches of mathematics, some fundamental pieces cannot be defined,
because they are used to define other, more complex pieces. Simply because these
terms are formally undefined does not mean they are any less useful or valid than
other terms that emerge from them. These undefined terms are used extensively in
theorems, proofs, and defining other words.

Table is provided for the descriptions/characteristics of these undefined

terms.
Undefine Description/Characteristic Ways of naming Illustration Real Life
d terms it Illustration
-ballpoint
of a pen

Fig. 1

-points on
-use uppercase a die
- represented by a dot
letter to name
- point has no dimension
a point.
Point (e.g. no length/height,
width)
Examples:
- indicator of position
points Fig. 2
M, N, O, P

-corner of
a box

Fig. 3

Line -is an infinite set of points. - small letter in - edge of

-line is one-dimensional and italics can be box
that is it has length used to
-given any two points on a represent a line
line, there always a point
that lies between them - two capital

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- lines have quality of letters with a Fig. 4

“straightness” that is not line over it
defined but assumed. - string of
Examples. guitar

l , m, n

or Fig. 5

´ , UO
´ , AB
XY ´
- set of points in an endless - uppercase - cover of a
flat surface. letters, script book
- the following determine a letters, or 3
plane points on the
-three non-collinear plane can be
points, used to name
-two intersecting lines the plane. Fig. 6
-two parallel lines ℘
-a line and a point not on - wall
the line Examples:

Plane ℘ ,
Plane Plane R

or Fig. 7

Plane DEF
- whiteboard

Fig. 8

On the other hand, these undefined terms serve as building block/definitions

of other terms in geometry.

Term Illustration Description

Collinear Points that lie on the same line
points Points A, B, C are collinear

Non-collinear Point or points that do not lie on

points the same line
Points X and Y are non collinear.

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Coplanar Coplanar points – points that lie

points/coplanar in the same plane.
lines Points P , X, R are coplanar.

Coplanar lines – lines that lie in

the same plane.
Lines m, n are coplanar

Non-coplanar points/lines –
points/lines that do not lie in the
same plane.

Points P and A are noncoplanar

points

Lines n and l are non-coplanar

lines

Intersecting Two lines with a common point.

lines Lines m and n intersect at point
S

Intersecting Intersection of planes P and H is

planes the line k.

These are coplanar lines that do

Parallel lines not meet.

´ are parallel lines

´ and CD
Lines AB

Concurrent Three or more lines are

lines concurrent if they all intersect at
only one point.

´ , CD
Lines AB ´ , EG
´ are concurrent
at point F.

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Skew lines
These are lines that do not lie on
the same plane

´ , CD
Lines AB ´ are skew lines.

Moreover, the following are some of the subsets of a line.

Term Illustration Description Notation

Line segment It is a part of a line line segment OP
that has two or PO
endpoints. In symbols,
OPor PO
Ray It is a subset of a line ray AB or ray AC
but has one In symbols,
endpoint, and ⃗
AB or ⃗
AC
extends in one
direction. Union of
two opposite rays is a
straight line

we name ray by its

endpoints and one of
its points. Naming
ray will always start
on the endpoint

Consider the following illustration.

a. Refer to Figure 9, line segment AB is a subset
of line AD, consists of points A and B and all
the points between them.
Figure 9
b. If the line to which a line segment belongs is given a scale so that it turns
into the real line, then the length of the segment can be determined by
getting
the distance between end points.

Refer to Figure 10, Given the points on the number line below, the length of
the following segments may be derived as the absolute value of the
difference of the two corresponding values of these points in a number line.

Figure 10
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a. WX =|(−5)−(−2)|=3
b. ZY =|(5)−(1)|=4
c. WZ=|(−5)−(5)|=10
d. XZ=|(−2)−(5)|=7
e. YX=|(1)−(−2)|=3

Segments are said to be congruent if they have the same length (e.g. WX and YX ).

c. Refer to Figure 11, points X, Y, Z are on ray XZ. However, referring to another
ray YZ, the point X is not on ray YZ.

Figure 11

d. Refer to Figure 12, If ⃗

VB is extended in the direction of point B, a line is
formed. Point C is the common endpoint of the two rays. ⃗ CB∧⃗ CH are opposite
rays.

Figure 12

Initial Postulates and Theorems

Postulates are statements that are accepted true. Theorems, on the
other hand are statements that should be proven true by using definitions,
postulates and previously proven theorems (Alferez & Duro, 2011).

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In the formal study of a mathematical system, we begin with undefined

terms. Building on this foundation, we can then define additional terms like
collinear, coplanar etc. Once the terminology is sufficiently developed,
certain properties (characteristics) of the system become apparent. These
properties are known as axioms or postulates of the system; more generally,
such statements are called assumptions. Once we have developed a
vocabulary and accepted certain postulates, many principles follow logically
when we apply deductive methods. These statements can be proved and are
called theorems. The following box summarizes the components of a
mathematical system (sometimes called a logical system or deductive
system) (Alexander & Koeberlien, 2012).

Axioms Theorems
Postulates (need to be
(accepted as true proven)
without any
proof)

 Postulate 1
Through two distinct points, there is exactly one line.

The above postulate sometimes be stated in the form “Two points

determine a line”.

Example:
How many distinct lines can be drawn through
a. point X?
b. both points X and Y at the same time?
c. all points X, Y and Z at the same time?

 Postulate 2

The measure of any line segment is a unique positive number.

This postulate shows the uniqueness of the measure of LINE SEGMENT.

We need to take note two things,
- there exists a number measure for each line segment

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- the existence must be unique

Unique on the other hand may be replaced by the terms one and only
one, exactly one or one and no more than one.

This postulate leads us in the definition of the distance between two

points.

Definition

The distance between two points A and B is the length of the AB that
joins the two points.

 Postulate 3 (Segment – Addition Postulate)

If X is a point somewhere in AB and A, X, Ba re collinear points, then
AX+ XB= AB

Based from the segment addition postulate, answer the following,

a. ST =2.5and TY =3.75 , find SY . See Figure 13A.

b. CR=2 x +3 and RN=x−2find CN . See Figure 13B

Figure 13

Definition
Congruent (≅ ) line segments are two segments that have the same
length.

In general, geometric figures that can be made coincide (fit perfectly

one on top of the other) are said to be congruent. The symbol ≅ is a
combination of the symbol , which means that the figures have the
same shape, and ¿, which means that the corresponding parts of the figures
have the same measure.
Example:
a. for what value of x that will make the two segments congruent?

b. in the US system of measures, 1 foot = 12 inches, XY =5.5feet, and ZB=66 feet,

are two segments congruent?

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Definition
The midpoint of a line segment is the point that separates the line segment
into two congruent parts.

In figure 14, if O , N , P are collinear and ON ≅ NP,

then N is the midpoint of OP , if ON =NP .
Also, if ON ≅ NP, then MQ is described as a
bisector of OP .
Figure 14
If N is the midpoint of OP ,we can draw these
conclusions (see figure 6):
1
ON =NP NP= (OP) OP=2(ON )
2
1
ON =¿ (OP ) OP=2(NP)
2

Example:
Given: M is the midpoint of RU . RM =2 y−5and MU =4 y−10.
Find: y and MU .

 Postulate 4
If two lines intersect, they intersect at a point.

Definition
Parallel lines are lines that lie in the same plane but do not intersect.

Say given two lines, l and m are parallel. In symbol that is l ∥ m .

 Postulate 5
Through three non-collinear points, there is exactly one plane.
 Postulate 6
If two distinct planes intersect, then their intersection is a line.

valuate

I. TRUE/FALSE. Write T if the statement is TRUE and F if it is FALSE.

m
See Figure 1 for numbers 1 – 8.
R y
1. Points A, B, C are coplanar and A
collinear. D
E F B
n
J
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Page
H G
H I
l
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2. Points B, and H are noncoplanar and collinear at the same time.

3. D́J is contained in plane R .
4. Lines n and l are skew lines.
5. Line n is the intersection of planes R and H .
6. Intersection of y and D́J is the point J .
7. Points E and F are noncoplanar points.
8. ´ can also be named as AC
AB ´ .

II. Fill in the blanks. Use always, sometimes or never to complete the
following statements.

9. Three points _________ determine a plane.

10. A line and a point on the line are ________ contained in two
planes.
11. Two intersecting lines are ________ contained in three planes.
12. Two points ________ form more than one line.
13. Two distinct lines _______ in more than one point.
14. A point ________ occupies an area.
15. The intersection of two distinct planes is ________ a point.

II. Given the statement, determine the number of points, lines or planes as
indicated below.

16. two distinct points (line/s)

17. The intersection of two lines (plane/s)

18. A line and a point not on the line (plane/s)

19. Intersection of three distinct and intersecting planes (line/s)
20. One line (point/s)

III. Given the following correspondence, answer the following questions.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y

21. Find SA . ____

22. What is the midpoint of GM ? ____
23. What points have a distance of 5 units from point Q? ____
24. Is AH ≅ UN ? yes or no.
25. What is the distance of the midpoint of UY and midpoint of KQ ?

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IV. Essay. Answer the following comprehensively .

26. Describe point, line and plane. Cite their differences in terms of
dimension. Give at least one real life representations of these
undefined terms.
27. Differentiate axioms from postulates. Further, cite the difference
between postulate from theorem

xpand

"Geometry Storytelling"
Students will imagine a scenario where they encounter a point, line, or plane in their
daily life. Write a short story (individually or in pairs) that incorporates the
undefined term. Creative storytelling and descriptive language are highly
encouraged. Allow time for students to share their stories with the class.

Figures reference

Fig 1: https://images.app.goo.gl/pHUWJWe3ESx7Cy6U7
Fig 2: https://images.app.goo.gl/CS4gS775TBWNd1wu9
Fig 3: https://images.app.goo.gl/q59SdErS9M4V3Pue9
Fig 4: https://images.app.goo.gl/q59SdErS9M4V3Pue9
Fig 5: https://images.app.goo.gl/JdSYoNPRnY2gjsn16
Fig 6: https://images.app.goo.gl/X1Pqgbh7fgh83eTz9
Fig 7: https://images.app.goo.gl/wjiuuJigurFzTpT99

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