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Inductive Reasoning and Deductive Reasoning
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Types of Statements

Example

State the (1) converse, (2) inverse, and (3) contrapositive of the statement "If ∠A and ∠B are right angles, then ∠A≅∠B." Determine the truth value of each statement.



Solution

The implication is "If ∠A and ∠B are right angles, then ∠A≅∠B." This statement is true since m∠A=m∠B=90.

1. Converse: If ∠A≅∠B, then ∠A and ∠B are right angles.
The converse statement is false since congruence of angles does not guarantee that they are right angles.
A counterexample for this statement is the case when m∠A=m∠B=30. Angles A and B are congruent but they are not right angles.
2. Inverse: If ∠A and ∠B are not right angles, then ∠A ≅ ∠B.
(The symbol ≅ is read as "not congruent.") The inverse statement is false because the fact that ∠A and ∠B are not right angles does not guarantee that the two angles are not congruent. The same counterexample may be used when m∠A=m∠B=30. The two angles are acute (not right angles) but they are congruent.
3. Contrapositive: If ∠A ≅ ∠B, then ∠A and ∠B are not right angles.
The contrapositive statement is true since you know that all right angles have the same measure. Since ∠A and ∠B are not congruent, it follows that the two angles do not have the same measure and both are not right angles.