A line is a fundamental concept in geometry. You could say it is the baby steps of a complex world, which is geometry. A line segment is a portion of a straight line bounded by two points, called endpoints. Consider the below diagram:

There are two points, they are denoted by A and B. In order to join both points, you need to draw a line, we call that type of line a line segment because it fulfils both conditions. The first condition is the straight line, and the second condition is the two points. The line segment is denoted by the endpoints that limit it or a lowercase letter representing the line itself. There is not much rocket science in line segment that is why we called it baby steps because it is very simple and easy to understand. Let's understand the different types of line segments that you can encounter in geometry.

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Equal Line Segments

If two lines are equal in length, no matter if they are parallel or not, they will be called equal line segments. That is why it is called equal line segments because both line segments are equal.

Consecutive Line Segments

 

Two consecutive line segments have a common endpoint. Consider the above image, you see that both line segments have a point common and that is point B. If two line segments share a common point, we can call them consecutive line segments.

Aligned Line Segments

 

Two consecutive line segments are aligned when they belong to the same line.

 

Operations with Line Segments

You can apply mathematical operations within two or more line segments. Below are all the mathematical operations that you can apply on different line segments with their procedure.

Adding Line Segments

The sum of two segments is another segment that begins at the origin of the first segment and ends and the end of the second segment. The length of the line segment sum is equal to the sum of the lengths of the two segments that form it.

Subtracting Line Segments

The subtraction of two segments is another segment that takes as the origin, the end of the smaller segment and as the end, the end of the biggest segment. The length of the segment difference is equal to the subtraction of the lengths of two segments.

Multiplying a Segment by a Number

The product of a segment by a number is another segment where the result the segment repeated so many times as is indicated by the number for which it multiplies. The length of the obtained segment is equal to the number multiplied by the length of the initial segment.

Dividing a Segment by a Number

The division of a segment by a number is another segment such that multiplied by this number gives the original segment. The length of the segment obtained is equal to the length of the initial segment divided by the number.

Dividing a Segment into Parts

Divide the segment AB into 3 equal parts.

1. Draw a ray that shares the origin of point A with the line segment AB.

2. Mark in the ray 3 equal units starting from point A.

3. For each of the divisions of the ray, draw parallel lines to the segment joining B. The points obtained in the segment AB represent 3 equal parts.

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Emma

Emma

I am passionate about travelling and currently live and work in Paris. I like to spend my time reading, gardening, running, learning languages and exploring new places.