geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

, an

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle can refer to a number of concepts relating to the intersection of two straight Line (geometry), lines at a Point (geometry), point. Formally, an angle is a figure lying in a Euclidean plane, plane formed by two R ...

subtended (from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "stretched under") by a

line segment In geometry, a line segment is a part of a line (mathematics), straight line that is bounded by two distinct endpoints (its extreme points), and contains every Point (geometry), point on the line that is between its endpoints. It is a special c ...

at an arbitrary vertex is formed by the two rays between the vertex and each endpoint of the segment. For example, a side of a

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

''subtends'' the opposite angle. More generally, an angle subtended by an arc of a

curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...

is the angle subtended by the corresponding chord of the arc. For example, a

circular arc A circular arc is the arc of a circle between a pair of distinct points. If the two points are not directly opposite each other, one of these arcs, the minor arc, subtends an angle at the center of the circle that is less than radians (180 ...

''subtends'' the central angle formed by the two radii through the arc endpoints. If an angle is subtended by a straight or curved segment, the segment is said to ''subtend'' the angle. Sometimes the term "subtend" is applied in the opposite sense, and the angle is said to ''subtend'' the segment. Alternately, the angle can be said to ''intercept'' or ''enclose'' the segment. The above definition of a subtended

plane angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle can refer to a number of concepts relating to the intersection of two straight Line (geometry), lines at a Point (geometry), point. Formally, an angle is a figure lying in a Euclidean plane, plane formed by two R ...

remains valid in

three-dimensional space In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values ('' coordinates'') are required to determine the position of a point. Most commonly, it is the three- ...

(3D), as one vertex and two endpoints (assumed non-collinear) define an Euclidean plane in 3D. For example, an arc of a

great circle In mathematics, a great circle or orthodrome is the circular intersection of a sphere and a plane passing through the sphere's center point. Discussion Any arc of a great circle is a geodesic of the sphere, so that great circles in spher ...

on a

sphere A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

subtends a central plane angle, formed by the two radii between the center of the sphere and each of the two arc endpoints. More generally, a

surface A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...

''subtends'' a

solid angle In geometry, a solid angle (symbol: ) is a measure of the amount of the field of view from some particular point that a given object covers. That is, it is a measure of how large the object appears to an observer looking from that point. The poin ...

if its boundary defines the

cone In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the '' apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines ...

of the angle. Many

theorem In mathematics and formal logic, a theorem is a statement (logic), statement that has been Mathematical proof, proven, or can be proven. The ''proof'' of a theorem is a logical argument that uses the inference rules of a deductive system to esta ...

s in geometry relate to subtended angles. If two sides of a triangle are

congruent Congruence may refer to: Mathematics * Congruence (geometry), being the same size and shape * Congruence or congruence relation, in abstract algebra, an equivalence relation on an algebraic structure that is compatible with the structure * In modu ...

, then the angles they subtend are also congruent, and conversely if two angles are congruent then they are subtended by congruent sides (propositions I.5–6 in Euclid's ''Elements''), forming an

isosceles triangle In geometry, an isosceles triangle () is a triangle that has two Edge (geometry), sides of equal length and two angles of equal measure. Sometimes it is specified as having ''exactly'' two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having ''at le ...

. More generally, the

law of sines In trigonometry, the law of sines (sometimes called the sine formula or sine rule) is a mathematical equation relating the lengths of the sides of any triangle to the sines of its angles. According to the law, \frac \,=\, \frac \,=\, \frac \,=\ ...

states that the

sine In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side opposite th ...

of each angle of a triangle is proportional to the side subtending it. The inscribed angle theorem states that when the vertex of an angle inscribed in a circle lies on the same side of the chord subtending it as the center of the circle, then the central angle subtended by the same chord is twice the inscribed angle. By extension, an angle subtended by a more complex geometric figure may be defined in terms of the figure's

convex hull In geometry, the convex hull, convex envelope or convex closure of a shape is the smallest convex set that contains it. The convex hull may be defined either as the intersection of all convex sets containing a given subset of a Euclidean space, ...

and its

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...

; for example, the angle subtended by a tree as viewed in a camera (). A subtended plane angle can also be defined for any two arbitrary

isolated point In mathematics, a point is called an isolated point of a subset (in a topological space ) if is an element of and there exists a neighborhood of that does not contain any other points of . This is equivalent to saying that the singleton i ...

s and a vertex, as in two lines of sight from a particular viewer; for example, the angle subtended by two stars as seen from Earth ().Definition of subtended angle
mathisfun.com, with interactive

applet In computing, an applet is any small application that performs one specific task that runs within the scope of a dedicated widget engine or a larger program, often as a plug-in. The term is frequently used to refer to a Java applet, a program ...

References

Angle {{elementary-geometry-stub