The strain energy in four three-membered rings is calculated by using the appropriate isodesmic reactions. Calculations with and without d functions on the heavy atoms indicate that while these polarization functions tend to reduce ring strain, the addition of d orbitals has little effect on the predicted trends. While introduciton of unsaturation drastically increases the strain in the carbon system (cyclopropane---. cyclopropene), this is not the case for silicon (silacyclopropane--+ silacyclopropene). As a result cyclopropane and cyclopropene are predicted to be the least and most strained rings, respectively.