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Last edited by hbghlyj 2025-4-13 11:30math.ucr.edu/~res/math133/winter09/polyangles.pdf
THEOREM 1 (Triangle Inequality). In the trihedral angle $\angle A\text{-}BCD$, one has
\[
\angle BAC + \angle CAD > \angle BAD.
\]
In the planar case where $C$ lies in the interior of $\angle BAD$, one has equality.
THEOREM 2 (Angle Sum Inequality). In the trihedral angle $\angle A\text{-}BCD$, one has
\[
\angle BAC + \angle CAD + \angle BAD < 360^\circ.
\]
These theorems reflect a basic geometrical fact: a set of coplanar points cannot be isometric to a set of noncoplanar points (compare the discussion in Section 8.5). Physically, this means that a tripod whose legs are locked into rigid positions with respect to each other cannot be moved so that the three feet and the top all lie on a flat surface.
PROOF OF THEOREM 1. If $\angle DAB \le \angle CAD$ or $\angle DAB \le \angle BAC$, the inequality is immediate, so we may assume that $\angle DAB > \angle CAD$ and $\angle DAB > \angle BAC$. Choose $E \in AB$ and $G \in AD$, and let $K \in \operatorname{Int} \angle DAB$ be a point such that
\[
\lvert \angle KAB \rvert = \lvert \angle BAC \rvert \quad (<\lvert \angle BAD \rvert).
\]
By the Crossbar Theorem there is a point $F \in EG \cap AC$. Choose $H \in AC$ so that $|AF|=|AF|$. Then $\triangle EAH \cong \triangle EAF$ by S.A.S., and therefore $|EH|=|EF|$.
By the Triangle Inequality (for ordinary plane triangles) and $E-F-G$ we have
\[|E H|+|H G|>|E G|=|E F|+|FG| ;
\]
since $|E H|=|E F|$, we conclude that $|H G|>|F G|$.
Since $|H A|=|FA|$ and $|H G|>|F G|$, the Hinge Theorem implies that $|\angle H A G|>|\angle F A G|$. On the other hand,
\[
|\angle B A D|=|\angle B A F|+|\angle F A G|<|\angle B A F|+|\angle E A G| .
\]
Since $\angle B A F=\angle B A C|$ and $\angle B A G=\angle C A D$, the inequality above reduces to
\[
|\angle B A D|<|\angle B A C|+|\angle C A D|
\]
PROOF OF THEOREM 2. The two main tools are Theorem 1 and the angle sum theorem for Euclidean triangles.
Consider the trihedral angles $\angle B\text-A C D, \angle C\text-A B D, \angle D\text-A B C$.
Applying Theorem 1 to each of them, we obtain the following inequalities:
(i) $|\angle B D C|<|\angle B D A|+|\angle A D C|$
(ii) $|\angle D C B|<|\angle D C A|+|\angle B C A|$
(iii) $|\angle D B C|<|\angle D B A|+|\angle C B A|$.
Since the angle-sum of a triangle is $180^{\circ}$ we have the following equalities:
\[
\begin{aligned}
& \text { (iv) }|\angle B D C|+|\angle D C B|+|\angle D B C|=180^{\circ} \\
& \text { (v) }|\angle B A D|=180^{\circ}-|\angle A D B|-|\angle A B D| \\
& \text { (vi) }|\angle B A C|=180^{\circ}-|\angle A C B|-|\angle A B C| \\
& \text { (vii) }|\angle C A D|=180^{\circ}-|\angle A D C|-|\angle A C D|
\end{aligned}
\]
Adding (v) -(vii) together, we obtain
\[
\begin{aligned}
& |\angle B A D|+|\angle B A C|+|\angle C A D|= \\
& 3 \cdot 180-|\angle A D B|-|\angle A B D|-|\angle A C B|-|\angle A B C|-|\angle A D C|-|\angle A C D| \\
= & 3 \cdot 180-(|\angle A D B|-|\angle A D C|)-(|\angle B C A|+|\angle D C A|) \\
& -(|\angle D B A|+|\angle C B A|) .
\end{aligned}
\]
Substitution of inequalities (i)-(iii) in the latter expression yield
\[
|\angle B A D|+|\angle B A C|+|\angle C A D|<3\cdot180-|\angle B D C|-|\angle D B C|-|\angle B C D|
\]
and by (iv) the right hand side is equal to $3\cdot 180-180=360$, as claimed. $\blacksquare$ |
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