![Regular polygon](https://www.english.nina.az/wikipedia/image/aHR0cHM6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi9lL2ViL1JlZ3VsYXJfcG9seWdvbl8zX2Fubm90YXRlZC5zdmcvMTYwMHB4LVJlZ3VsYXJfcG9seWdvbl8zX2Fubm90YXRlZC5zdmcucG5n.png )
In Euclidean geometry, a regular polygon is a polygon that is direct equiangular (all angles are equal in measure) and equilateral (all sides have the same length). Regular polygons may be either convex or star. In the limit, a sequence of regular polygons with an increasing number of sides approximates a circle, if the perimeter or area is fixed, or a regular apeirogon (effectively a straight line), if the edge length is fixed.
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Edges and vertices | |||||||||||||||||||||
Schläfli symbol | |||||||||||||||||||||
Coxeter–Dynkin diagram | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||
Symmetry group | Dn, order 2n | ||||||||||||||||||||
Dual polygon | Self-dual | ||||||||||||||||||||
Area (with side length ) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Internal angle | |||||||||||||||||||||
Internal angle sum | |||||||||||||||||||||
Inscribed circle diameter | |||||||||||||||||||||
Circumscribed circle diameter | |||||||||||||||||||||
Properties | Convex, cyclic, equilateral, isogonal, isotoxal |
General properties
![image](https://www.english.nina.az/wikipedia/image/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZW5nbGlzaC5uaW5hLmF6L3dpa2lwZWRpYS9pbWFnZS9hSFIwY0hNNkx5OTFjR3h2WVdRdWQybHJhVzFsWkdsaExtOXlaeTkzYVd0cGNHVmthV0V2WTI5dGJXOXVjeTkwYUhWdFlpODNMemMyTDFKbFozVnNZWEpmYzNSaGNsOXdiMng1WjI5dWN5NXpkbWN2TXpBd2NIZ3RVbVZuZFd4aGNsOXpkR0Z5WDNCdmJIbG5iMjV6TG5OMlp5NXdibWM9LnBuZw==.png)
These properties apply to all regular polygons, whether convex or star:
- A regular n-sided polygon has rotational symmetry of order n.
- All vertices of a regular polygon lie on a common circle (the circumscribed circle); i.e., they are concyclic points. That is, a regular polygon is a cyclic polygon.
- Together with the property of equal-length sides, this implies that every regular polygon also has an inscribed circle or incircle that is tangent to every side at the midpoint. Thus a regular polygon is a tangential polygon.
- 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.
- A regular n-sided polygon can be constructed with origami if and only if
for some
, where each distinct
is a Pierpont prime.
Symmetry
The symmetry group of an n-sided regular polygon is the dihedral group Dn (of order 2n): D2, D3, D4, ... It consists of the rotations in Cn, 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.
Regular convex polygons
All regular simple polygons (a simple polygon is one that 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 . For
, we have two degenerate cases:
- Monogon {1}
- Degenerate in ordinary space. (Most authorities do not regard the monogon as a true polygon, partly because of this, and also because the formulae below do not work, and its structure is not that of any abstract polygon.)
- Digon {2}; a "double line segment"
- Degenerate in ordinary space. (Some authorities[weasel words] do not regard the digon as a true polygon because of this.)
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.
![image](https://www.english.nina.az/wikipedia/image/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZW5nbGlzaC5uaW5hLmF6L3dpa2lwZWRpYS9pbWFnZS9hSFIwY0hNNkx5OTFjR3h2WVdRdWQybHJhVzFsWkdsaExtOXlaeTkzYVd0cGNHVmthV0V2WTI5dGJXOXVjeTkwYUhWdFlpOHdMekF6TDBGdWJuVnNhVjkzYVhSb1gzTmhiV1ZmWVhKbFlWOWhjbTkxYm1SZmRXNXBkRjl5WldkMWJHRnlYM0J2YkhsbmIyNXpMbk4yWnk4eE9EQndlQzFCYm01MWJHbGZkMmwwYUY5ellXMWxYMkZ5WldGZllYSnZkVzVrWDNWdWFYUmZjbVZuZFd4aGNsOXdiMng1WjI5dWN5NXpkbWN1Y0c1bi5wbmc=.png)
Angles
For a regular convex n-gon, each interior angle has a measure of:
degrees;
radians; or
full turns,
and each exterior angle (i.e., supplementary to the interior angle) has a measure of degrees, with the sum of the exterior angles equal to 360 degrees or 2π radians or one full turn.
As n approaches infinity, the internal angle approaches 180 degrees. For a regular polygon with 10,000 sides (a myriagon) the internal angle is 179.964°. As the number of sides increases, the internal angle can come very close to 180°, and the shape of the polygon approaches that of a circle. However the polygon can never become a circle. The value of the internal angle can never become exactly equal to 180°, as the circumference would effectively become a straight line (see apeirogon). For this reason, a circle is not a polygon with an infinite number of sides.
Diagonals
For , the number of diagonals is
; i.e., 0, 2, 5, 9, ..., for a triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, ... . The diagonals divide the polygon into 1, 4, 11, 24, ... pieces.
For a regular n-gon inscribed in a circle of radius , the product of the distances from a given vertex to all other vertices (including adjacent vertices and vertices connected by a diagonal) equals n.
Points in the plane
For a regular simple n-gon with circumradius R and distances di from an arbitrary point in the plane to the vertices, we have
For higher powers of distances from an arbitrary point in the plane to the vertices of a regular
-gon, if
,
then
,
and
,
where is a positive integer less than
.
If is the distance from an arbitrary point in the plane to the centroid of a regular
-gon with circumradius
, then
,
where = 1, 2, …,
.
Interior points
For a regular n-gon, the sum of the perpendicular distances from any interior point to the n sides is n times the apothem: p. 72 (the apothem being the distance from the center to any side). This is a generalization of Viviani's theorem for the n = 3 case.
Circumradius
![image](https://www.english.nina.az/wikipedia/image/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZW5nbGlzaC5uaW5hLmF6L3dpa2lwZWRpYS9pbWFnZS9hSFIwY0hNNkx5OTFjR3h2WVdRdWQybHJhVzFsWkdsaExtOXlaeTkzYVd0cGNHVmthV0V2WTI5dGJXOXVjeTkwYUhWdFlpODBMelJoTDFCdmJIbG5iMjVRWVhKaGJXVjBaWEp6TG5CdVp5OHhPREJ3ZUMxUWIyeDVaMjl1VUdGeVlXMWxkR1Z5Y3k1d2JtYz0ucG5n.png)
![image](https://www.english.nina.az/wikipedia/image/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZW5nbGlzaC5uaW5hLmF6L3dpa2lwZWRpYS9pbWFnZS9hSFIwY0hNNkx5OTFjR3h2WVdRdWQybHJhVzFsWkdsaExtOXlaeTkzYVd0cGNHVmthV0V2WTI5dGJXOXVjeTkwYUhWdFlpODFMelZsTDFKbFozVnNZWEpmY0c5c2VXZHZibDl6YVdSbFgyTnZkVzUwWDJkeVlYQm9Mbk4yWnk4eU1qQndlQzFTWldkMWJHRnlYM0J2YkhsbmIyNWZjMmxrWlY5amIzVnVkRjluY21Gd2FDNXpkbWN1Y0c1bi5wbmc=.png)
The circumradius R from the center of a regular polygon to one of the vertices is related to the side length s or to the apothem a by
For constructible polygons, algebraic expressions for these relationships exist
.The sum of the perpendiculars from a regular n-gon's vertices to any line tangent to the circumcircle equals n times the circumradius.: p. 73
The sum of the squared distances from the vertices of a regular n-gon to any point on its circumcircle equals 2nR2 where R is the circumradius.: p. 73
The sum of the squared distances from the midpoints of the sides of a regular n-gon to any point on the circumcircle is 2nR2 − 1/4ns2, where s is the side length and R is the circumradius.: p. 73
If are the distances from the vertices of a regular
-gon to any point on its circumcircle, then
.
Dissections
Coxeter states that every zonogon (a 2m-gon whose opposite sides are parallel and of equal length) can be dissected into or 1/2m(m − 1) parallelograms. These tilings are contained as subsets of vertices, edges and faces in orthogonal projections m-cubes. In particular, this is true for any regular polygon with an even number of sides, in which case the parallelograms are all rhombi. The list OEIS: A006245 gives the number of solutions for smaller polygons.
2m | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 24 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Image | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Rhombs | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 28 | 36 | 45 | 66 | 105 | 190 | 300 |
Area
The area A of a convex regular n-sided polygon having side s, circumradius R, apothem a, and perimeter p is given by
For regular polygons with side s = 1, circumradius R = 1, or apothem a = 1, this produces the following table: (Since as
, the area when
tends to
as
grows large.)
Number of sides | Area when side s = 1 | Area when circumradius R = 1 | Area when apothem a = 1 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exact | Approximation | Exact | Approximation | Relative to circumcircle area | Exact | Approximation | Relative to incircle area | |
n | ||||||||
3 | | 0.433012702 | | 1.299038105 | 0.4134966714 | | 5.196152424 | 1.653986686 |
4 | 1 | 1.000000000 | 2 | 2.000000000 | 0.6366197722 | 4 | 4.000000000 | 1.273239544 |
5 | | 1.720477401 | | 2.377641291 | 0.7568267288 | | 3.632712640 | 1.156328347 |
6 | | 2.598076211 | | 2.598076211 | 0.8269933428 | | 3.464101616 | 1.102657791 |
7 | 3.633912444 | 2.736410189 | 0.8710264157 | 3.371022333 | 1.073029735 | |||
8 | | 4.828427125 | | 2.828427125 | 0.9003163160 | | 3.313708500 | 1.054786175 |
9 | 6.181824194 | 2.892544244 | 0.9207254290 | 3.275732109 | 1.042697914 | |||
10 | | 7.694208843 | | 2.938926262 | 0.9354892840 | | 3.249196963 | 1.034251515 |
11 | 9.365639907 | 2.973524496 | 0.9465022440 | 3.229891423 | 1.028106371 | |||
12 | | 11.19615242 | 3 | 3.000000000 | 0.9549296586 | | 3.215390309 | 1.023490523 |
13 | 13.18576833 | 3.020700617 | 0.9615188694 | 3.204212220 | 1.019932427 | |||
14 | 15.33450194 | 3.037186175 | 0.9667663859 | 3.195408642 | 1.017130161 | |||
15 | 17.64236291 | 3.050524822 | 0.9710122088 | 3.188348426 | 1.014882824 | |||
16 | 20.10935797 | | 3.061467460 | 0.9744953584 | 3.182597878 | 1.013052368 | ||
17 | 22.73549190 | 3.070554163 | 0.9773877456 | 3.177850752 | 1.011541311 | |||
18 | 25.52076819 | 3.078181290 | 0.9798155361 | 3.173885653 | 1.010279181 | |||
19 | 28.46518943 | 3.084644958 | 0.9818729854 | 3.170539238 | 1.009213984 | |||
20 | 31.56875757 | 3.090169944 | 0.9836316430 | 3.167688806 | 1.008306663 | |||
100 | 795.5128988 | 3.139525977 | 0.9993421565 | 3.142626605 | 1.000329117 | |||
1000 | 79577.20975 | 3.141571983 | 0.9999934200 | 3.141602989 | 1.000003290 | |||
10,000 | 7957746.893 | 3.141592448 | 0.9999999345 | 3.141592757 | 1.000000033 | |||
1,000,000 | 79577471545 | 3.141592654 | 1.000000000 | 3.141592654 | 1.000000000 |
![image](https://www.english.nina.az/wikipedia/image/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZW5nbGlzaC5uaW5hLmF6L3dpa2lwZWRpYS9pbWFnZS9hSFIwY0hNNkx5OTFjR3h2WVdRdWQybHJhVzFsWkdsaExtOXlaeTkzYVd0cGNHVmthV0V2WTI5dGJXOXVjeTkwYUhWdFlpOHhMekV3TDFCdmJIbG5iMjV6WDJOdmJYQmhjbWx6YjI0dWNHNW5MelF3TUhCNExWQnZiSGxuYjI1elgyTnZiWEJoY21semIyNHVjRzVuLnBuZw==.png)
Of all n-gons with a given perimeter, the one with the largest area is regular.
Constructible polygon
Some regular polygons are easy to construct with compass and straightedge; other regular polygons are not constructible at all. The ancient Greek mathematicians knew how to construct a regular polygon with 3, 4, or 5 sides,: p. xi and they knew how to construct a regular polygon with double the number of sides of a given regular polygon.: pp. 49–50 This led to the question being posed: is it possible to construct all regular n-gons with compass and straightedge? If not, which n-gons are constructible and which are not?
Carl Friedrich Gauss proved the constructibility of the regular 17-gon in 1796. Five years later, he developed the theory of Gaussian periods in his Disquisitiones Arithmeticae. This theory allowed him to formulate a sufficient condition for the constructibility of regular polygons:
- A regular n-gon can be constructed with compass and straightedge if n is the product of a power of 2 and any number of distinct Fermat primes (including none).
(A Fermat prime is a prime number of the form ) Gauss stated without proof that this condition was also necessary, but never published his proof. A full proof of necessity was given by Pierre Wantzel in 1837. The result is known as the Gauss–Wantzel theorem.
Equivalently, a regular n-gon is constructible if and only if the cosine of its common angle is a constructible number—that is, can be written in terms of the four basic arithmetic operations and the extraction of square roots.
Regular skew polygons
![]() The cube contains a skew regular hexagon, seen as 6 red edges zig-zagging between two planes perpendicular to the cube's diagonal axis. | ![]() The zig-zagging side edges of a n-antiprism represent a regular skew 2n-gon, as shown in this 17-gonal antiprism. |
A regular skew polygon in 3-space can be seen as nonplanar paths zig-zagging between two parallel planes, defined as the side-edges of a uniform antiprism. All edges and internal angles are equal.
![]() The Platonic solids (the tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron) have Petrie polygons, seen in red here, with sides 4, 6, 6, 10, and 10 respectively. |
More generally regular skew polygons can be defined in n-space. Examples include the Petrie polygons, polygonal paths of edges that divide a regular polytope into two halves, and seen as a regular polygon in orthogonal projection.
In the infinite limit regular skew polygons become skew apeirogons.
Regular star polygons
2 < 2q < p, gcd(p, q) = 1 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
Schläfli symbol | {p/q} | |||
Vertices and Edges | p | |||
Density | q | |||
Coxeter diagram | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
Symmetry group | Dihedral (Dp) | |||
Dual polygon | Self-dual | |||
Internal angle (degrees) |
A non-convex regular polygon is a regular 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 density or "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 center m times.
The (non-degenerate) regular stars of up to 12 sides are:
- Pentagram – {5/2}
- Heptagram – {7/2} and {7/3}
- Octagram – {8/3}
- Enneagram – {9/2} and {9/4}
- Decagram – {10/3}
- Hendecagram – {11/2}, {11/3}, {11/4} and {11/5}
- Dodecagram – {12/5}
m and n must be coprime, or the figure will degenerate.
The degenerate regular stars of up to 12 sides are:
- Tetragon – {4/2}
- Hexagons – {6/2}, {6/3}
- Octagons – {8/2}, {8/4}
- Enneagon – {9/3}
- Decagons – {10/2}, {10/4}, and {10/5}
- Dodecagons – {12/2}, {12/3}, {12/4}, and {12/6}
Grünbaum {6/2} or 2{3} | Coxeter 2{3} or {6}[2{3}]{6} |
---|---|
![]() | ![]() |
Doubly-wound hexagon | Hexagram as a compound of two triangles |
Depending on the precise derivation of the Schläfli symbol, opinions differ as to the nature of the degenerate figure. For example, {6/2} may be treated in either of two ways:
- For much of the 20th century (see for example Coxeter (1948)), we have commonly taken the /2 to indicate joining each vertex of a convex {6} to its near neighbors two steps away, to obtain the regular compound of two triangles, or hexagram. Coxeter clarifies this regular compound with a notation {kp}[k{p}]{kp} for the compound {p/k}, so the hexagram is represented as {6}[2{3}]{6}. More compactly Coxeter also writes 2{n/2}, like 2{3} for a hexagram as compound as alternations of regular even-sided polygons, with italics on the leading factor to differentiate it from the coinciding interpretation.
- Many modern geometers, such as Grünbaum (2003), regard this as incorrect. They take the /2 to indicate moving two places around the {6} at each step, obtaining a "double-wound" triangle that has two vertices superimposed at each corner point and two edges along each line segment. Not only does this fit in better with modern theories of abstract polytopes, but it also more closely copies the way in which Poinsot (1809) created his star polygons – by taking a single length of wire and bending it at successive points through the same angle until the figure closed.
Duality of regular polygons
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2024) |
All regular polygons are self-dual to congruency, and for odd n they are self-dual to identity.
In addition, the regular star figures (compounds), being composed of regular polygons, are also self-dual.
Regular polygons as faces of polyhedra
A uniform polyhedron has 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).
A quasiregular polyhedron is a uniform polyhedron which has just two kinds of face alternating around each vertex.
A regular polyhedron is a uniform polyhedron which has just one kind of face.
The remaining (non-uniform) convex polyhedra with regular faces are known as the Johnson solids.
A polyhedron having regular triangles as faces is called a deltahedron.
See also
- Euclidean tilings by convex regular polygons
- Platonic solid
- List of regular polytopes and compounds
- Equilateral polygon
- Carlyle circle
Notes
- OEIS: A007678
- Results for R = 1 and a = 1 obtained with Maple, using function definition: The expressions for n = 16 are obtained by twice applying the tangent half-angle formula to tan(π/4)
f := proc (n) options operator, arrow; [ [convert(1/4*n*cot(Pi/n), radical), convert(1/4*n*cot(Pi/n), float)], [convert(1/2*n*sin(2*Pi/n), radical), convert(1/2*n*sin(2*Pi/n), float), convert(1/2*n*sin(2*Pi/n)/Pi, float)], [convert(n*tan(Pi/n), radical), convert(n*tan(Pi/n), float), convert(n*tan(Pi/n)/Pi, float)] ] end proc
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
References
- Hwa, Young Lee (2017). Origami-Constructible Numbers (PDF) (MA thesis). University of Georgia. pp. 55–59.
- Park, Poo-Sung. "Regular polytope distances", Forum Geometricorum 16, 2016, 227-232. http://forumgeom.fau.edu/FG2016volume16/FG201627.pdf
- Meskhishvili, Mamuka (2020). "Cyclic Averages of Regular Polygons and Platonic Solids". Communications in Mathematics and Applications. 11: 335–355.
- Johnson, Roger A., Advanced Euclidean Geometry, Dover Publ., 2007 (orig. 1929).
- Pickover, Clifford A, The Math Book, Sterling, 2009: p. 150
- Chen, Zhibo, and Liang, Tian. "The converse of Viviani's theorem", The College Mathematics Journal 37(5), 2006, pp. 390–391.
- Coxeter, Mathematical recreations and Essays, Thirteenth edition, p.141
- "Math Open Reference". Retrieved 4 Feb 2014.
- "Mathwords".
- Chakerian, G.D. "A Distorted View of Geometry." Ch. 7 in Mathematical Plums (R. Honsberger, editor). Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America, 1979: 147.
- Bold, Benjamin. Famous Problems of Geometry and How to Solve Them, Dover Publications, 1982 (orig. 1969).
- Kappraff, Jay (2002). Beyond measure: a guided tour through nature, myth, and number. World Scientific. p. 258. ISBN 978-981-02-4702-7.
- Are Your Polyhedra the Same as My Polyhedra? Branko Grünbaum (2003), Fig. 3
- Regular polytopes, p.95
- Coxeter, The Densities of the Regular Polytopes II, 1932, p.53
Further reading
- Lee, Hwa Young; "Origami-Constructible Numbers".
- Coxeter, H.S.M. (1948). Regular Polytopes. Methuen and Co.
- Grünbaum, B.; Are your polyhedra the same as my polyhedra?, Discrete and comput. geom: the Goodman-Pollack festschrift, Ed. Aronov et al., Springer (2003), pp. 461–488.
- Poinsot, L.; Memoire sur les polygones et polyèdres. J. de l'École Polytechnique 9 (1810), pp. 16–48.
External links
- Weisstein, Eric W. "Regular polygon". MathWorld.
- Regular Polygon description With interactive animation
- Incircle of a Regular Polygon With interactive animation
- Area of a Regular Polygon Three different formulae, with interactive animation
- Renaissance artists' constructions of regular polygons at Convergence
Family | An | Bn | I2(p) / Dn | E6 / E7 / E8 / F4 / G2 | Hn | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regular polygon | Triangle | Square | p-gon | Hexagon | Pentagon | |||||||
Uniform polyhedron | Tetrahedron | Octahedron • Cube | Demicube | Dodecahedron • Icosahedron | ||||||||
Uniform polychoron | Pentachoron | 16-cell • Tesseract | Demitesseract | 24-cell | 120-cell • 600-cell | |||||||
Uniform 5-polytope | 5-simplex | 5-orthoplex • 5-cube | 5-demicube | |||||||||
Uniform 6-polytope | 6-simplex | 6-orthoplex • 6-cube | 6-demicube | 122 • 221 | ||||||||
Uniform 7-polytope | 7-simplex | 7-orthoplex • 7-cube | 7-demicube | 132 • 231 • 321 | ||||||||
Uniform 8-polytope | 8-simplex | 8-orthoplex • 8-cube | 8-demicube | 142 • 241 • 421 | ||||||||
Uniform 9-polytope | 9-simplex | 9-orthoplex • 9-cube | 9-demicube | |||||||||
Uniform 10-polytope | 10-simplex | 10-orthoplex • 10-cube | 10-demicube | |||||||||
Uniform n-polytope | n-simplex | n-orthoplex • n-cube | n-demicube | 1k2 • 2k1 • k21 | n-pentagonal polytope | |||||||
Topics: Polytope families • Regular polytope • List of regular polytopes and compounds |
In Euclidean geometry a regular polygon is a polygon that is direct equiangular all angles are equal in measure and equilateral all sides have the same length Regular polygons may be either convex or star In the limit a sequence of regular polygons with an increasing number of sides approximates a circle if the perimeter or area is fixed or a regular apeirogon effectively a straight line if the edge length is fixed Regular polygonEdges and verticesn displaystyle n Schlafli symbol n displaystyle n Coxeter Dynkin diagramSymmetry groupDn order 2nDual polygonSelf dualArea with side length s displaystyle s A 14ns2cot pn displaystyle A tfrac 1 4 ns 2 cot left frac pi n right Internal angle n 2 pn displaystyle n 2 times frac pi n Internal angle sum n 2 p displaystyle left n 2 right times pi Inscribed circle diameterdIC scot pn displaystyle d text IC s cot left frac pi n right Circumscribed circle diameterdOC scsc pn displaystyle d text OC s csc left frac pi n right PropertiesConvex cyclic equilateral isogonal isotoxalGeneral propertiesRegular convex and star polygons with 3 to 12 vertices labelled with their Schlafli symbols These properties apply to all regular polygons whether convex or star A regular n sided polygon has rotational symmetry of order n All vertices of a regular polygon lie on a common circle the circumscribed circle i e they are concyclic points That is a regular polygon is a cyclic polygon Together with the property of equal length sides this implies that every regular polygon also has an inscribed circle or incircle that is tangent to every side at the midpoint Thus a regular polygon is a tangential polygon 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 A regular n sided polygon can be constructed with origami if and only if n 2a3bp1 pr displaystyle n 2 a 3 b p 1 cdots p r for some r N displaystyle r in mathbb N where each distinct pi displaystyle p i is a Pierpont prime Symmetry The symmetry group of an n sided regular polygon is the dihedral group Dn of order 2n D2 D3 D4 It consists of the rotations in Cn 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 Regular convex polygonsAll regular simple polygons a simple polygon is one that 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 Schlafli symbol n displaystyle n For n lt 3 displaystyle n lt 3 we have two degenerate cases Monogon 1 Degenerate in ordinary space Most authorities do not regard the monogon as a true polygon partly because of this and also because the formulae below do not work and its structure is not that of any abstract polygon Digon 2 a double line segment Degenerate in ordinary space Some authorities weasel words do not regard the digon as a true polygon because of this 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 As a corollary of the annulus chord formula the area bounded by the circumcircle and incircle of every unit convex regular polygon is p 4Angles For a regular convex n gon each interior angle has a measure of 180 n 2 n displaystyle frac 180 n 2 n degrees n 2 pn displaystyle frac n 2 pi n radians or n 2 2n displaystyle frac n 2 2n full turns and each exterior angle i e supplementary to the interior angle has a measure of 360n displaystyle tfrac 360 n degrees with the sum of the exterior angles equal to 360 degrees or 2p radians or one full turn As n approaches infinity the internal angle approaches 180 degrees For a regular polygon with 10 000 sides a myriagon the internal angle is 179 964 As the number of sides increases the internal angle can come very close to 180 and the shape of the polygon approaches that of a circle However the polygon can never become a circle The value of the internal angle can never become exactly equal to 180 as the circumference would effectively become a straight line see apeirogon For this reason a circle is not a polygon with an infinite number of sides Diagonals For n gt 2 displaystyle n gt 2 the number of diagonals is 12n n 3 displaystyle tfrac 1 2 n n 3 i e 0 2 5 9 for a triangle square pentagon hexagon The diagonals divide the polygon into 1 4 11 24 pieces For a regular n gon inscribed in a circle of radius 1 displaystyle 1 the product of the distances from a given vertex to all other vertices including adjacent vertices and vertices connected by a diagonal equals n Points in the plane For a regular simple n gon with circumradius R and distances di from an arbitrary point in the plane to the vertices we have 1n i 1ndi4 3R4 1n i 1ndi2 R2 2 displaystyle frac 1 n sum i 1 n d i 4 3R 4 biggl frac 1 n sum i 1 n d i 2 R 2 biggr 2 For higher powers of distances di displaystyle d i from an arbitrary point in the plane to the vertices of a regular n displaystyle n gon if Sn 2m 1n i 1ndi2m displaystyle S n 2m frac 1 n sum i 1 n d i 2m then Sn 2m Sn 2 m k 1 m 2 m2k 2kk R2k Sn 2 R2 k Sn 2 m 2k displaystyle S n 2m left S n 2 right m sum k 1 left lfloor m 2 right rfloor binom m 2k binom 2k k R 2k left S n 2 R 2 right k left S n 2 right m 2k and Sn 2m Sn 2 m k 1 m 2 12k m2k 2kk Sn 4 Sn 2 2 k Sn 2 m 2k displaystyle S n 2m left S n 2 right m sum k 1 left lfloor m 2 right rfloor frac 1 2 k binom m 2k binom 2k k left S n 4 left S n 2 right 2 right k left S n 2 right m 2k where m displaystyle m is a positive integer less than n displaystyle n If L displaystyle L is the distance from an arbitrary point in the plane to the centroid of a regular n displaystyle n gon with circumradius R displaystyle R then i 1ndi2m n R2 L2 m k 1 m 2 m2k 2kk R2kL2k R2 L2 m 2k displaystyle sum i 1 n d i 2m n Biggl left R 2 L 2 right m sum k 1 left lfloor m 2 right rfloor binom m 2k binom 2k k R 2k L 2k left R 2 L 2 right m 2k Biggr where m displaystyle m 1 2 n 1 displaystyle n 1 Interior points For a regular n gon the sum of the perpendicular distances from any interior point to the n sides is n times the apothem p 72 the apothem being the distance from the center to any side This is a generalization of Viviani s theorem for the n 3 case Circumradius Regular pentagon n 5 with side s circumradius R and apothem aGraphs of side s apothem a and area A of regular polygons of n sides and circumradius 1 with the base b of a rectangle with the same area The green line shows the case n 6 The circumradius R from the center of a regular polygon to one of the vertices is related to the side length s or to the apothem a by R s2sin pn acos pn a s2tan pn displaystyle R frac s 2 sin left frac pi n right frac a cos left frac pi n right quad quad a frac s 2 tan left frac pi n right For constructible polygons algebraic expressions for these relationships exist see Bicentric polygon Regular polygons The sum of the perpendiculars from a regular n gon s vertices to any line tangent to the circumcircle equals n times the circumradius p 73 The sum of the squared distances from the vertices of a regular n gon to any point on its circumcircle equals 2nR2 where R is the circumradius p 73 The sum of the squared distances from the midpoints of the sides of a regular n gon to any point on the circumcircle is 2nR2 1 4 ns2 where s is the side length and R is the circumradius p 73 If di displaystyle d i are the distances from the vertices of a regular n displaystyle n gon to any point on its circumcircle then 3 i 1ndi2 2 2n i 1ndi4 displaystyle 3 biggl sum i 1 n d i 2 biggr 2 2n sum i 1 n d i 4 Dissections Coxeter states that every zonogon a 2m gon whose opposite sides are parallel and of equal length can be dissected into m2 displaystyle tbinom m 2 or 1 2 m m 1 parallelograms These tilings are contained as subsets of vertices edges and faces in orthogonal projections m cubes In particular this is true for any regular polygon with an even number of sides in which case the parallelograms are all rhombi The list OEIS A006245 gives the number of solutions for smaller polygons Example dissections for select even sided regular polygons 2m 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 24 30 40 50ImageRhombs 3 6 10 15 21 28 36 45 66 105 190 300Area The area A of a convex regular n sided polygon having side s circumradius R apothem a and perimeter p is given byA 12nsa 12pa 14ns2cot pn na2tan pn 12nR2sin 2pn displaystyle begin aligned A amp tfrac 1 2 nsa amp tfrac 1 2 pa amp tfrac 1 4 ns 2 cot left tfrac pi n right amp na 2 tan left tfrac pi n right amp tfrac 1 2 nR 2 sin left tfrac 2 pi n right end aligned For regular polygons with side s 1 circumradius R 1 or apothem a 1 this produces the following table Since cot x 1 x displaystyle cot x rightarrow 1 x as x 0 displaystyle x rightarrow 0 the area when s 1 displaystyle s 1 tends to n2 4p displaystyle n 2 4 pi as n displaystyle n grows large Number of sides Area when side s 1 Area when circumradius R 1 Area when apothem a 1Exact Approximation Exact Approximation Relative to circumcircle area Exact Approximation Relative to incircle arean n4cot pn displaystyle tfrac n 4 cot left tfrac pi n right n2sin 2pn displaystyle tfrac n 2 sin left tfrac 2 pi n right n2psin 2pn displaystyle tfrac n 2 pi sin left tfrac 2 pi n right ntan pn displaystyle n tan left tfrac pi n right nptan pn displaystyle tfrac n pi tan left tfrac pi n right 3 34 displaystyle tfrac sqrt 3 4 0 433012702 334 displaystyle tfrac 3 sqrt 3 4 1 299038105 0 4134966714 33 displaystyle 3 sqrt 3 5 196152424 1 6539866864 1 1 000000000 2 2 000000000 0 6366197722 4 4 000000000 1 2732395445 1425 105 displaystyle tfrac 1 4 sqrt 25 10 sqrt 5 1 720477401 5412 5 5 displaystyle tfrac 5 4 sqrt tfrac 1 2 left 5 sqrt 5 right 2 377641291 0 7568267288 55 25 displaystyle 5 sqrt 5 2 sqrt 5 3 632712640 1 1563283476 332 displaystyle tfrac 3 sqrt 3 2 2 598076211 332 displaystyle tfrac 3 sqrt 3 2 2 598076211 0 8269933428 23 displaystyle 2 sqrt 3 3 464101616 1 1026577917 3 633912444 2 736410189 0 8710264157 3 371022333 1 0730297358 2 22 displaystyle 2 2 sqrt 2 4 828427125 22 displaystyle 2 sqrt 2 2 828427125 0 9003163160 8 2 1 displaystyle 8 left sqrt 2 1 right 3 313708500 1 0547861759 6 181824194 2 892544244 0 9207254290 3 275732109 1 04269791410 525 25 displaystyle tfrac 5 2 sqrt 5 2 sqrt 5 7 694208843 5212 5 5 displaystyle tfrac 5 2 sqrt tfrac 1 2 left 5 sqrt 5 right 2 938926262 0 9354892840 225 105 displaystyle 2 sqrt 25 10 sqrt 5 3 249196963 1 03425151511 9 365639907 2 973524496 0 9465022440 3 229891423 1 02810637112 6 33 displaystyle 6 3 sqrt 3 11 19615242 3 3 000000000 0 9549296586 12 2 3 displaystyle 12 left 2 sqrt 3 right 3 215390309 1 02349052313 13 18576833 3 020700617 0 9615188694 3 204212220 1 01993242714 15 33450194 3 037186175 0 9667663859 3 195408642 1 01713016115 17 64236291 3 050524822 0 9710122088 3 188348426 1 01488282416 20 10935797 42 2 displaystyle 4 sqrt 2 sqrt 2 3 061467460 0 9744953584 3 182597878 1 01305236817 22 73549190 3 070554163 0 9773877456 3 177850752 1 01154131118 25 52076819 3 078181290 0 9798155361 3 173885653 1 01027918119 28 46518943 3 084644958 0 9818729854 3 170539238 1 00921398420 31 56875757 3 090169944 0 9836316430 3 167688806 1 008306663100 795 5128988 3 139525977 0 9993421565 3 142626605 1 0003291171000 79577 20975 3 141571983 0 9999934200 3 141602989 1 00000329010 000 7957746 893 3 141592448 0 9999999345 3 141592757 1 0000000331 000 000 79577471545 3 141592654 1 000000000 3 141592654 1 000000000 Comparison of sizes of regular polygons with the same edge length from three to sixty sides The size increases without bound as the number of sides approaches infinity Of all n gons with a given perimeter the one with the largest area is regular Constructible polygonSome regular polygons are easy to construct with compass and straightedge other regular polygons are not constructible at all The ancient Greek mathematicians knew how to construct a regular polygon with 3 4 or 5 sides p xi and they knew how to construct a regular polygon with double the number of sides of a given regular polygon pp 49 50 This led to the question being posed is it possible to construct all regular n gons with compass and straightedge If not which n gons are constructible and which are not Carl Friedrich Gauss proved the constructibility of the regular 17 gon in 1796 Five years later he developed the theory of Gaussian periods in his Disquisitiones Arithmeticae This theory allowed him to formulate a sufficient condition for the constructibility of regular polygons A regular n gon can be constructed with compass and straightedge if n is the product of a power of 2 and any number of distinct Fermat primes including none A Fermat prime is a prime number of the form 2 2n 1 displaystyle 2 left 2 n right 1 Gauss stated without proof that this condition was also necessary but never published his proof A full proof of necessity was given by Pierre Wantzel in 1837 The result is known as the Gauss Wantzel theorem Equivalently a regular n gon is constructible if and only if the cosine of its common angle is a constructible number that is can be written in terms of the four basic arithmetic operations and the extraction of square roots Regular skew polygonsThe cube contains a skew regular hexagon seen as 6 red edges zig zagging between two planes perpendicular to the cube s diagonal axis The zig zagging side edges of a n antiprism represent a regular skew 2n gon as shown in this 17 gonal antiprism A regular skew polygon in 3 space can be seen as nonplanar paths zig zagging between two parallel planes defined as the side edges of a uniform antiprism All edges and internal angles are equal The Platonic solids the tetrahedron cube octahedron dodecahedron and icosahedron have Petrie polygons seen in red here with sides 4 6 6 10 and 10 respectively More generally regular skew polygons can be defined in n space Examples include the Petrie polygons polygonal paths of edges that divide a regular polytope into two halves and seen as a regular polygon in orthogonal projection In the infinite limit regular skew polygons become skew apeirogons Regular star polygonsRegular star polygons2 lt 2q lt p gcd p q 1 5 2 7 2 7 3 Schlafli symbol p q Vertices and EdgespDensityqCoxeter diagramSymmetry groupDihedral Dp Dual polygonSelf dualInternal angle degrees 180 360qp displaystyle 180 frac 360q p A non convex regular polygon is a regular 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 Schlafli symbol is modified to indicate the density or 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 center m times The non degenerate regular stars of up to 12 sides are Pentagram 5 2 Heptagram 7 2 and 7 3 Octagram 8 3 Enneagram 9 2 and 9 4 Decagram 10 3 Hendecagram 11 2 11 3 11 4 and 11 5 Dodecagram 12 5 m and n must be coprime or the figure will degenerate The degenerate regular stars of up to 12 sides are Tetragon 4 2 Hexagons 6 2 6 3 Octagons 8 2 8 4 Enneagon 9 3 Decagons 10 2 10 4 and 10 5 Dodecagons 12 2 12 3 12 4 and 12 6 Two interpretations of 6 2 Grunbaum 6 2 or 2 3 Coxeter 2 3 or 6 2 3 6 Doubly wound hexagon Hexagram as a compound of two triangles Depending on the precise derivation of the Schlafli symbol opinions differ as to the nature of the degenerate figure For example 6 2 may be treated in either of two ways For much of the 20th century see for example Coxeter 1948 we have commonly taken the 2 to indicate joining each vertex of a convex 6 to its near neighbors two steps away to obtain the regular compound of two triangles or hexagram Coxeter clarifies this regular compound with a notation kp k p kp for the compound p k so the hexagram is represented as 6 2 3 6 More compactly Coxeter also writes 2 n 2 like 2 3 for a hexagram as compound as alternations of regular even sided polygons with italics on the leading factor to differentiate it from the coinciding interpretation Many modern geometers such as Grunbaum 2003 regard this as incorrect They take the 2 to indicate moving two places around the 6 at each step obtaining a double wound triangle that has two vertices superimposed at each corner point and two edges along each line segment Not only does this fit in better with modern theories of abstract polytopes but it also more closely copies the way in which Poinsot 1809 created his star polygons by taking a single length of wire and bending it at successive points through the same angle until the figure closed Duality of regular polygonsThis section needs expansion You can help by adding to it December 2024 All regular polygons are self dual to congruency and for odd n they are self dual to identity In addition the regular star figures compounds being composed of regular polygons are also self dual Regular polygons as faces of polyhedraA uniform polyhedron has 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 A quasiregular polyhedron is a uniform polyhedron which has just two kinds of face alternating around each vertex A regular polyhedron is a uniform polyhedron which has just one kind of face The remaining non uniform convex polyhedra with regular faces are known as the Johnson solids A polyhedron having regular triangles as faces is called a deltahedron See alsoEuclidean tilings by convex regular polygons Platonic solid List of regular polytopes and compounds Equilateral polygon Carlyle circleNotesOEIS A007678 Results for R 1 and a 1 obtained with Maple using function definition f proc n options operator arrow convert 1 4 n cot Pi n radical convert 1 4 n cot Pi n float convert 1 2 n sin 2 Pi n radical convert 1 2 n sin 2 Pi n float convert 1 2 n sin 2 Pi n Pi float convert n tan Pi n radical convert n tan Pi n float convert n tan Pi n Pi float end procThe expressions for n 16 are obtained by twice applying the tangent half angle formula to tan p 4 158 15 3 2 5 5 displaystyle tfrac 15 8 left sqrt 15 sqrt 3 sqrt 2 left 5 sqrt 5 right right 1516 15 3 10 25 displaystyle tfrac 15 16 left sqrt 15 sqrt 3 sqrt 10 2 sqrt 5 right 152 33 15 2 25 115 displaystyle tfrac 15 2 left 3 sqrt 3 sqrt 15 sqrt 2 left 25 11 sqrt 5 right right 4 1 2 2 2 2 displaystyle 4 left 1 sqrt 2 sqrt 2 left 2 sqrt 2 right right 16 1 2 2 2 2 1 displaystyle 16 left 1 sqrt 2 right left sqrt 2 left 2 sqrt 2 right 1 right 5 1 5 5 25 displaystyle 5 left 1 sqrt 5 sqrt 5 2 sqrt 5 right 52 5 1 displaystyle tfrac 5 2 left sqrt 5 1 right 20 1 5 5 25 displaystyle 20 left 1 sqrt 5 sqrt 5 2 sqrt 5 right ReferencesHwa Young Lee 2017 Origami Constructible Numbers PDF MA thesis University of Georgia pp 55 59 Park Poo Sung Regular polytope distances Forum Geometricorum 16 2016 227 232 http forumgeom fau edu FG2016volume16 FG201627 pdf Meskhishvili Mamuka 2020 Cyclic Averages of Regular Polygons and Platonic Solids Communications in Mathematics and Applications 11 335 355 Johnson Roger A Advanced Euclidean Geometry Dover Publ 2007 orig 1929 Pickover Clifford A The Math Book Sterling 2009 p 150 Chen Zhibo and Liang Tian The converse of Viviani s theorem The College Mathematics Journal 37 5 2006 pp 390 391 Coxeter Mathematical recreations and Essays Thirteenth edition p 141 Math Open Reference Retrieved 4 Feb 2014 Mathwords Chakerian G D A Distorted View of Geometry Ch 7 in Mathematical Plums R Honsberger editor Washington DC Mathematical Association of America 1979 147 Bold Benjamin Famous Problems of Geometry and How to Solve Them Dover Publications 1982 orig 1969 Kappraff Jay 2002 Beyond measure a guided tour through nature myth and number World Scientific p 258 ISBN 978 981 02 4702 7 Are Your Polyhedra the Same as My Polyhedra Branko Grunbaum 2003 Fig 3 Regular polytopes p 95 Coxeter The Densities of the Regular Polytopes II 1932 p 53Further readingLee Hwa Young Origami Constructible Numbers Coxeter H S M 1948 Regular Polytopes Methuen and Co Grunbaum B Are your polyhedra the same as my polyhedra Discrete and comput geom the Goodman Pollack festschrift Ed Aronov et al Springer 2003 pp 461 488 Poinsot L Memoire sur les polygones et polyedres J de l Ecole Polytechnique 9 1810 pp 16 48 External linksWeisstein Eric W Regular polygon MathWorld Regular Polygon description With interactive animation Incircle of a Regular Polygon With interactive animation Area of a Regular Polygon Three different formulae with interactive animation Renaissance artists constructions of regular polygons at Convergence vteFundamental convex regular and uniform polytopes in dimensions 2 10Family An Bn I2 p Dn E6 E7 E8 F4 G2 HnRegular polygon Triangle Square p gon Hexagon PentagonUniform polyhedron Tetrahedron Octahedron Cube Demicube Dodecahedron IcosahedronUniform polychoron Pentachoron 16 cell Tesseract Demitesseract 24 cell 120 cell 600 cellUniform 5 polytope 5 simplex 5 orthoplex 5 cube 5 demicubeUniform 6 polytope 6 simplex 6 orthoplex 6 cube 6 demicube 122 221Uniform 7 polytope 7 simplex 7 orthoplex 7 cube 7 demicube 132 231 321Uniform 8 polytope 8 simplex 8 orthoplex 8 cube 8 demicube 142 241 421Uniform 9 polytope 9 simplex 9 orthoplex 9 cube 9 demicubeUniform 10 polytope 10 simplex 10 orthoplex 10 cube 10 demicubeUniform n polytope n simplex n orthoplex n cube n demicube 1k2 2k1 k21 n pentagonal polytopeTopics Polytope families Regular polytope List of regular polytopes and compounds