What is the difference between a square and a parallelogram?

What is the difference between a square and a parallelogram?

Answer:

The key difference between a square and a parallelogram can be discussed referring to the geometric characteristics of the shapes as well as the restrictions affecting them.

A square is a particular type of parallelogram; however, it comes with the extra conditions. It is a four-sided figure with all sides being of equal length, and all interior angles measuring ninety degrees every each. Thus, the pairwise distance for a square is equal, which means that the side length of the square is the same, which is equivalent for all its interior angles. Besides, it is vital to know that the diagonals of a square always cross each other at right angles with their measures being of equal lengths.

As for a parallelogram, this figure is more general, it is a quadrilateral with two pairs of proportional sides. Though the opposite sides of the parallelogram are congruent in length, the adjacent sides may be unequal. The angles in a parallelogram need not be right angles but unique angles that are equal on the opposite sides of the parallelogram. Special parallelograms can be defined as those whose diagonals bisect each other but the diagonals may not be a perpendicular bisector or equal in length.

Thus, it could be seen that all squares are parallelograms but they cannot be reciprocated in the sense that not all parallelograms are a square. As a specific type of parallelogram, a square has features that meet all the characteristics of a parallelogram with other additional properties.