Based only on the information given in the diagram, which congruence theorems or postulates could be given as reasons why AABC= ALMN?
Check all that apply
O A. LL
O B. ASA
I C. LA
D. HL
E AAS

3 Answers:

Choice A.  LLChoice D.  HLChoice F.  SAS

Explanation:

Let's go through the answer choices one by one.

A) This can be used because LL = leg leg, and this means we have two pairs of congruent legs. Those pairs are AC = LN and CB = NM. The LL theorem only applies to right triangles.B) This cannot be used. We don't have info about two pairs of angles. We only know that one pair of angles are the same (those 90 degree angles). So we can't form the second "A" in "ASA". This idea will come up again in choice C and choice E.C) This cannot be used. Why not? Because the "A" of "LA" refers to "acute angle". But unfortunately we don't know anything about the acute angles (whether they are congruent or not). The LA theorem can only be applied to right triangles.D) This can be used. We can use the HL (hypotenuse leg) theorem because we see that AB = LM are the pair of congruent hypotenuses, and you can use any of the congruent leg pairs to form the L of HL. Similar to LL and LA, the HL theorem only works for right triangles.E) This cannot be used. Like with choice B, we can't form the second "A" of "AAS".F) This can be used because we have two pairs of congruent sides, with a pair of congruent angles between those sides. Those angles being the marked 90 degree angles. It turns out that LL theorem is a special case of the SAS theorem.

In short, we can use choice A, choice D, choice F. We can't use the other three choices because we lack the info about any other pairs of angles.