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A Smaller Triangle

By cutting the triangle in half we get this:

(Note: The angles are in radians, not degrees)


The small triangle is right-angled and so we can use sine, cosine and tangent to find how the
side, radius, apothem and "n" are related:
sin(/n) = (Side/2) / Radius

Side = 2 Radius sin(/n)

cos(/n) = Apothem / Radius

Apothem = Radius cos(/n)

tan(/n) = (Side/2) / Apothem

Side = 2 Apothem tan(/n)

Area of Polygon = n Apothem2 tan(/n)


If you don't know the Apothem, here is the same formula re-worked for Radius and for Side:
Area of Polygon = n Radius2 sin(2 /n)
Area of Polygon = n Side2 / tan(/n)
The number of diagonals of an n-sided polygon is: n(n 3) / 2

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