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dihedral angle

(Definition)

Two distinct half-planes emanating from the same line l divide space (ℝ3) into two regions called dihedral angles. The line l is the edge of the dihedral angle, and the bounding half-planes are its sides.

A simple sketch of a dihedral angle with edge l.

The angle which the sides of the dihedral angle determine in a plane Normal to the edge is the normal section of the dihedral angle. Apparently, all such normal sections are equal. According to the size of the normal section, the dihedral angle may be called acute, right, obtuse, straight, skew, convex, or concave. Unlike the angle between two planes, a dihedral angle may be greater than 90∘.

If two planes intersect each other and one of the four dihedral angles formed is right, then the others are right as well. In that case, we say that the planes are perpendicular to each other.


"dihedral angle" is owned by pahio.
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This is version 2 of dihedral angle, born on 2009-04-18, modified 2026-09-09.
Object id is 659, canonical name is DihedralAngle.
Accessed 1697 times total.

Classification:
Physics Classification: 02.40.Dr (Euclidean and projective geometries)

Pending Errata and Addenda

  1. figure update to png by bloftin on 2026-09-09 21:31:32

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