Triangles why are they strong

For instance, triangles have three connections, while squares have four. When forces are applied to a square, a square is more prone to lose its shape. Engineers often add a diagonal through the middle of a square, effectively turning it into two triangles and making it stronger. Triangles are the fundamental building blocks of many contemporary structures. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Are triangles the strongest shape?

Ask Question. Asked 6 years, 3 months ago. Active 1 year, 8 months ago. Viewed 54k times. HSN 2, 2 2 gold badges 21 21 silver badges 30 30 bronze badges. Conifold Conifold In this definition, triangles would be strongest. But if you say that the sides are not of fixed length, then other things may be stronger, e. The Circle may be the strongest as it will "distribute" the force evenly and prevent itself from breaking, while the side of a triangle might break under the same force.

I don't like the idea that only joints can move because it singles out points artificially. A pyramid comprised of four triangles is the three dimensional analog of the triangle in the two dimensional world. Any three dimensional object that can be reduced to a collection of triangles by adding triangular gussets is similarly rigid.

The thing I find really cool about triangles is that the mathematics of triangles is wrapped up in a very neat package called trigonometry. In contrast, most mathematical disciplines seem to have no obvious beginning or end. Perhaps Differential Equasions would serve as an example??? There is also something mysterious about triangles that extends beyond the world of mathematics and engineering. Our government, for example, is made up of three branches, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial.

But triangles aren't just mathematically significant, they are also fundamental to the way we build our environments, both physical and virtual. Triangles are special because they are exceptionally strong. Out of all the two-dimensional shapes we can make out of straight struts of metal, only a triangle is rigid. All other shapes can be deformed with a simple push if the shape is hinged at the corners for example, a rectangle can be pushed over into a parallelogram.