A rhombus and a parallelogram are both types of quadrilaterals, but they have some distinct characteristics that set them apart.
A parallelogram is defined as a four-sided figure where opposite sides are both equal in length and parallel. This means that each pair of opposite sides shares the same distance between them, and the angles opposite each other are also equal. Common examples of parallelograms include rectangles, squares, and rhombuses.
A rhombus, on the other hand, is a specific type of parallelogram. The defining feature of a rhombus is that all four of its sides are of equal length. In addition to having equal opposite sides and angles (like all parallelograms), the rhombus has diagonals that bisect each other at right angles and are of unequal lengths.
In summary, while all rhombuses are parallelograms (since they meet all the parallelogram criteria), not all parallelograms are rhombuses. The key difference lies in the length of the sides: a rhombus has all sides equal, while a parallelogram only requires opposite sides to be equal and parallel.