Parallel and perpendicular lines are an important part of geometry and they have distinct characteristics that help to identify them easily. Two lines are termed as parallel if they lie in the same plane, are the same distance apart, and never meet each other. Perpendicular lines are intersecting lines that always meet at an angle of 90°. Let us learn more about parallel and perpendicular lines in this article.
If two straight lines lie in the same plane, and if they never intersect each other, they are called parallel lines. They are always the same distance apart and are equidistant lines. The symbol || is used to represent parallel lines. For example, AB || CD means line AB is parallel to line CD. On the other hand, when two lines intersect each other at an angle of 90°, they are known as perpendicular lines. Perpendicular lines are denoted by the symbol ⊥. For example, PQ ⊥ RS means line PQ is perpendicular to line RS. Observe the following figure and the properties of parallel and perpendicular lines to identify them and differentiate between them.
· Parallel lines are always equidistant from each other.
· They never meet at any common point.
· They lie in the same plane.
· Perpendicular lines always intersect at 90°.
· All perpendicular lines can be termed as intersecting lines, but all intersecting lines cannot be called perpendicular because they need to intersect at right angles.