Last week’s essay on equality (vs equivalence) took me on a whole ride of the mathematical definitions of the word equal – and absolute value, and similar, and modulus(!), and congruent – and that was just in the discipline of algebra.

In the discipline of geometry, I encountered the word congruence again, but now with the words ‘…taken to the other by a motion’ — and I knew immediately it was gonna be a Math WoW.

Words used in geometry offer so many opportunities to humanize math in a relatable way, and I think that’s because there’s a physical component to shapes and figures that easily lend themselves to visualization. Here, congruence is all about the realities of considering different perspectives of observation through movement that’s mandatory, all to be completed before you can make a conclusion about the relational equivalence of the figures before you.

There’s an inferred pause in our action when we take a moment to consider something. The optimist in me also hopes that when we take the time to pause to evaluate something as significant as whether or not a set of figures – or objects, or perhaps humans – are equivalently valued, our inherent biases have the time to show up, be seen, and be acknowledged.

Congruence is more than just looking similar; it is equivalence in the inner breadth as well as in the outer appearance.