triangle inequality

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noun Mathematics.

the theorem that the absolute value of the sum of two quantities is less than or equal to the sum of the absolute values of the quantities.

the related theorem that the magnitude of the sum of two vectors is less than or equal to the sum of the magnitudes of the vectors.

(for metric spaces) the related theorem that the distance between two points does not exceed the sum of their distances from any third point.

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Origin of triangle inequality

First recorded in 1960–65

The Perfect Storm writer talks combat brotherhood and the threat posed by growing wealth inequality.
Sebastian Junger on War, Loss, and a Divided America|The Daily Beast Video|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Parker tells of a new Texas struggling to deal with inequality.
Will Texas Stay Texan?|David Fontana|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This Texas Triangle now has the same population as the entire State of Florida.
Will Texas Stay Texan?|David Fontana|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Thomas Piketty raised the Big Questions this year about democracy and inequality.
American Democracy Under Threat for 250 Years|Jedediah Purdy|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Piketty only waves his hands around the all-important question of whether economic inequality undermines democracy.
American Democracy Under Threat for 250 Years|Jedediah Purdy|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
On the other hand, the arrows along the sides of the triangle represent actual circulation.
Readings in Money and Banking|Chester Arthur Phillips
He was a narrow-headed man with frail-looking sloped shoulders and a thin triangle of face.
Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942|Various
There are sixty thousand acres of mighty good spruce in that triangle between us, and it's as good as ours.
Scattergood Baines|Clarence Budington Kelland
(e) No part of the counter shall intersect a triangle or the produced perpendicular thereof shown on p. 186.
Yachting Vol. 2|Various.
A third game was called trign, and was played by three persons, stationed at the angles of an equilateral triangle.
The Private Life of the Romans|Harold Whetstone Johnston