Supplementary Angles

If the measures of two angles sum up to [latex]180^\circ[/latex], they are called supplementary angles. You’ll notice that when this pair of angles are adjacent, they form a straight angle. Each angle is called a supplement of the other.

An illustration of supplementary angles show angle AXN measuring 120 degrees and angle NXF measuring 60 degrees.

Take for instance the diagram above, [latex]\angle AXN[/latex] and [latex]\angle NXF[/latex] are supplementary. If we add their angle measures ([latex]120^\circ + 60^\circ [/latex]), we get [latex]180^\circ[/latex].

But the angles don’t have to be adjacent nor share a common side and vertex to be considered as supplementary angles.

Two non-adjacent angles, angle S measures 145 degrees and angle H measures 35 degrees, are also considered supplementary angles.

[latex]\angle H[/latex] and [latex]\angle S[/latex] are supplementary. Why? Because even though they are non-adjacent angles, the sum of their measures is [latex]180^\circ[/latex].

[latex]35^\circ + 145^\circ = 180^\circ [/latex]


Example Problems Involving Supplementary Angles

Let’s delve more into the relationship of this angle pair by going through some examples.

Example 1: Are [latex]\angle ERW[/latex] and [latex]\angle WRQ[/latex] supplementary?

Angle ERW measures 68 degrees while angle WRQ measures 112 degrees.

We have to add the angle measures of both angles in order to find out if they sum up to [latex]180^\circ[/latex].

68 degrees plus 112 degrees is equal to 180 degrees.

And they do! Therefore, [latex]\angle ERW[/latex] and [latex]\angle WRQ[/latex] are supplementary angles.


Example 2: If [latex]\angle CYM[/latex] and [latex]\angle LKG[/latex] are supplementary, what is the measure of [latex]\angle CYM[/latex]?

Angle CYM and angle LKG are non-adjacent with angle LKG measuring 53 degrees.

We are only given the measure of [latex]\angle LKG[/latex]. However, since we know that supplementary angles add up to [latex]180^\circ[/latex], we can simply use subtraction in order to find the measure of [latex]\angle CYM[/latex].

180 degrees minus 53 degrees is equal to 127 degrees.

Thus, the measure of [latex]\angle CYM[/latex] is [latex]\textbf{127}^\circ[/latex].


Example 3: [latex]\angle JBU[/latex] and [latex]\angle UBT[/latex] are supplementary. Find the missing angle measure.

Two angles next to each other, angle JBT and angle UBT. The given measure for angle UBT is 138 degrees.

This problem is similar to our previous example. The only difference is that the two angles are adjacent to each other. However, the concept stays the same. We can find the missing measure by subtracting the given measure of [latex]\angle UBT[/latex] from [latex]180^\circ[/latex].

180 degrees minus 138 degrees is equal to 42 degrees.

The missing angle measure or the measure of [latex]\angle JBU[/latex] is [latex]\textbf{42}^\circ[/latex].

This makes sense because if we add both angle measures, we get [latex]180^\circ[/latex].

[latex]138^\circ + 42^\circ = 180^\circ [/latex]

This proves that both angles are indeed supplementary.


Example 4: What is the value of [latex]x[/latex]?

Angle PVH measures 119 degrees while angle HVA measurement is expressed as 6x+7 degrees.

Just by looking at the diagram, we can tell that [latex]\angle PVH[/latex] and [latex]\angle HVA[/latex] are supplementary. Together, the angle pair form a straight angle while adjacent to each other. A straight angle measures [latex]180^\circ[/latex] and so are supplementary angles.

Both of the angle measures are given but one is expressed in the form of an algebraic expression. It may look challenging but it’s really not. Since we know that they are supplementary, we will set up our equation such that the sum of the angle measures is [latex]180^\circ[/latex]. Then we solve for [latex]x[/latex].

119 degrees plus 6x+7 degrees is equal to 180 degrees. The variable x is equal to 9.

So, the value of [latex]x[/latex] is [latex]\textbf{9}[/latex].

To check if we got the correct answer, let’s plug in the value of [latex]x[/latex] into our original equation. If both sides of the equation equal to [latex]180[/latex], then we got the correct value for [latex]x[/latex].

119 plus the quantity 6 times 9 plus 7 is equal to 180.

Perfect! [latex]9[/latex] indeed is the correct value for [latex]x[/latex]. While checking, we also found out that the measure of [latex]\angle HVA[/latex] is [latex]61^\circ[/latex].


Example 5: Suppose [latex]\angle Q[/latex] and [latex]\angle F[/latex] are supplementary. Find the measures of the two angles.

Angle Q measures 21x+9 degrees and angle F measures 4x-4 degrees.

Here we are given two supplementary angles whose measures are expressed in algebraic expressions. Let’s go ahead and set up our equation then solve for the variable [latex]x[/latex].

(21x+9) degrees plus (4x-4) degrees is equal to 180 degrees; x is equal to 7.

Now that we know the value of [latex]x[/latex], we can use this to find the measure of each angle. We’ll simply replace [latex]x[/latex] with [latex]7[/latex] on each of the algebraic expressions then simplify.

For angle Q, 21 times 7 plus 9 degrees is equal to 156 degrees. For angle F, 4 times 7 minus 4 degrees is equal to 24 degrees.

So the measure of [latex]\angle Q[/latex] is [latex]\textbf{156}^\circ[/latex] and the measure of [latex]\angle F[/latex] is [latex]\textbf{24}^\circ[/latex].

If we add both angle measures, we get [latex]180^\circ[/latex] which means our answers are correct.

[latex]156^\circ + 24^\circ = 180^\circ [/latex]


Example 6: Two supplementary angles are such that the measure of one angle is 3 times the measure of the other. Determine the measure of each angle.

Let [latex]x^\circ[/latex] be the measure of the first angle. Since the second angle measures 3 times than the first, then it will be [latex]3x ^\circ[/latex]. Keep in mind that the angles are supplementary so the right side of the equation must be [latex]180 ^\circ[/latex].

x degrees plus 3x degrees is equal to 180 degrees, x is equal to 45 degrees.

Using the value of [latex]x[/latex], the measure of the second angle will be [latex]3x = 3\left( {45} \right) = 135[/latex].

Therefore, the measures of the angles are [latex]\textbf{45} ^\circ[/latex] and [latex]\textbf{135} ^\circ[/latex] which when added sum up to [latex]180 ^\circ[/latex] .


You may also be interested in these related math lessons or tutorials:

Alternate Exterior Angles

Alternate Interior Angles

Complementary Angles

Corresponding Angles

Vertical Angles