Regular polygon

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Set of regular p-gons



Regular polygons

Edges and vertices p
Schläfli symbol {p}
Coxeter–Dynkin diagram Image:CDW_ring.pngImage:CDW_p.pngImage:CDW_dot.png
Symmetry group Dihedral (Dp)
Dual polyhedron Self-dual
Area
(with t=edge length)
A=\frac{pt^2}{4\tan(\pi/p)}
Internal angle
(degrees)
\left(1-\frac{2}{p}\right)\times 180

A regular polygon is a polygon which is equiangular (all angles are congruent) and equilateral (all sides have the same length).

Contents

All regular simple polygons (a simple polygon is one which does not intersect itself anywhere) are convex. Those having the same number of sides are also similar.

An n-sided convex regular polygon is denoted by its Schläfli symbol {n}.

In certain contexts all the polygons considered will be regular. In such circumstances it is customary to drop the prefix regular. For instance all the faces of uniform polyhedra must be regular and the faces will be described simply as triangle, square, pentagon, etc.

Each angle of a regular n-gon has a measure of (1-\frac{2}{n})\times 180 (or equally of (n-2)\times \frac{180}{n}) degrees.

Alternately, the internal angle(s) of a regular n-gon is \frac{(n-2)\pi}{n} radians ( or \frac{(n-2)}{2n} turns).

All vertices of a regular polygon lie on a common circle, i.e., they are concyclic points, i.e., every regular polygon has a circumscribed circle.

A regular n-sided polygon can be constructed with compass and straightedge if and only if the odd prime factors of n are distinct Fermat primes. See constructible polygon.

For n > 2 the number of diagonals is \frac{n (n-3)}{2}, i.e., 0, 2, 5, 9, ... They divide the polygon into 1, 4, 11, 24, ... pieces.

The area of a regular n-sided polygon is

When~Degree :
    A=\frac{nt^2}{4tan(\frac{180}{n})}
When~Radian :
    A=\frac{nt^2}{4tan(\frac{\pi}{n})}

where

t is the length of a side.

Also, the area is half the perimeter multiplied by the length of the apothem, a, (the line drawn from the centre of the polygon perpendicular to a side). That is A = a n t/2, as the length of the perimeter is n t. Or easier 1/2 p a. For t=1 this gives

When~Degree : \frac{n}{4tan(\frac{180}{n})}
When~Radian~[n~can't~be~2]:{\frac{n}{4}} \cot(\pi/n)

with the following values:

Sides Name Exact area Approximate area
3 equilateral triangle \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4} 0.433
4 square 1 1.000
5 regular-pentagon \frac {1}{4} \sqrt{25+10\sqrt{5}} 1.720
6 regular-hexagon \frac{3 \sqrt{3}}{2} 2.598
7 regular-heptagon   3.634
8 regular-octagon 2 + 2 \sqrt{2} 4.828
9 regular-enneagon   6.182
10 regular-decagon \frac{5}{2} \sqrt{5+2\sqrt{5}} 7.694
11 regular-hendecagon   9.366
12 regular-dodecagon 6+3\sqrt{3} 11.196
13 regular-triskaidecagon   13.186
14 regular-tetradecagon   15.335
15 regular-pentadecagon   17.642
16 regular-hexadecagon   20.109
17 regular-heptadecagon   22.735
18 regular-octadecagon   25.521
19 regular-enneadecagon   28.465
20 regular-icosagon   31.569
100 regular-hectagon   795.513
1000 regular-chiliagon   79577.210
10000 regular-myriagon   7957746.893

The amounts that the areas are less than those of circles with the same perimeter, are (rounded) equal to 0.26, for n<8 a little more (the amounts decrease with increasing n to the limit π/12).

A pentagram {5/2}
A pentagram {5/2}

A non-convex regular polygon is called a star polygon. The most common example is the pentagram, which has the same vertices as a pentagon, but connects alternating vertices.

For an n-sided star polygon, the Schläfli symbol is modified to indicate the 'starriness' m of the polygon, as {n/m}. If m is 2, for example, then every second point is joined. If m is 3, then every third point is joined. The boundary of the polygon winds around the centre m times.

Examples:

The symmetry group of an n-sided regular polygon is dihedral group Dn (of order 2n): D2, D3, D4,... It consists of the rotations in Cn (there is rotational symmetry of order n), together with reflection symmetry in n axes that pass through the center. If n is even then half of these axes pass through two opposite vertices, and the other half through the midpoint of opposite sides. If n is odd then all axes pass through a vertex and the midpoint of the opposite side.

A uniform polyhedron is a polyhedron with regular polygons as faces such that for every two vertices there is an isometry mapping one into the other (just as there is for a regular polygon).

The remaining convex polyhedra with regular faces are known as the Johnson solids.

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