Topic summary
Right angle
In geometry and trigonometry, a right angle is an angle of exactly 90 degrees or /2radians corresponding to a quarter turn. If a ray is placed so that its endpoint is on a line and the adjacent angles are equal, then they are right angles. The term is a calque of Latinangulus rectus; here rectus means "upright", referring to the vertical perpendicular to a horizontal base line.
Closely related and important geometrical concepts are perpendicular lines, meaning lines that form right angles at their point of intersection, and orthogonality, which is the property of forming right angles, usually applied to vectors. The presence of a right angle in a triangle is the defining factor for right triangles, making the right angle basic to trigonometry.