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Polygon, in geometry, a simple closed two-dimensional figure formed by the joining of three or more straight line segments, called sides. A figure is simple if it extends in no more than two directions from any point and closed if its starting point is the same as its endpoint. These restrictions require that the sides of a polygon not cross each other and that pairs of sides intersect at their endpoints, which are called vertices. All polygons have an equal number of sides and vertices, and the sum of the interior angles of a polygon with n sides is 180 (n 2). If the sides of a polygon are of equal length and the angles are equal, the polygon is regular; otherwise it is irregular.

The distance from the center of a regular polygon to a side is called its apothem. One-half the apothem times the number of sides times the length of a side provides the area of a regular polygon: Area = Za(n)(s).

Polygons are either convex or concave. Every interior angle of a convex polygon is less than 180, while at least one angle of a concave polygon is greater than 180. An easy way to tell if a polygon is convex is to lay a ruler along each side in turn. If the ruler never juts into the inside of the polygon, the polygon is convex. If it does jut inside, however, the polygon is concave.

A polygons name reflects the number of sides it has. The best-known polygons are the triangle, which has three sides; the quadrilateral, which has four sides and includes squares, rectangles, and parallelograms; the pentagon, which has five sides; the hexagon, which has six sides; the heptagon, which has seven sides; the octagon, which has eight sides; the nonagon, which has nine sides; and the decagon, which has ten sides.

Regular Polygons A closed plane figure bounded by at least three straight lines, the polygon takes different shapes depending upon its number of sides. A regular polygon has sides of equal lengths and angles of equal measure. This chart illustrates and names eight regular polygons.

 

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Circumscribe, in geometry, to surround a figure with a circle which passes through all the vertices of the figure. Any triangle may be circumscribed and so may any regular polygon. Only certain quadrilaterals may be circumscribed: their opposite angles must add up to 180.

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Inscribe, to draw a geometric figure within another so that all of the second figure lies within the first and touches it at as many points as possible.

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Vertex, the point of intersection of two or more lines or planes in a geometric figure. The figure may be two- or three-dimensional. A triangle has three vertices, for example, and a cube has eight.

Types of Triangles Triangles are classified in terms of their sides and angles. Scalene triangles have no equal sides (fig. 1), isosceles triangles have two equal sides (fig. 4), and equilateral triangles have three equal sides (fig. 5). In acute triangles, all the angles are less than 90 (fig. 1). In right triangles, one angle is equal to 90 (fig. 3). In obtuse triangles, one angle is more than 90 (fig. 2). A line is called an altitude if it is drawn from a vertex perpendicular to the opposite side (fig. 6). A line is called a median if it is drawn from a vertex to the midpoint of the opposite side (fig. 7). A line is called an angle bisector if it divides an angle into two equal angles (fig. 8). A line is called a perpendicular bisector if it is drawn perpendicular to a side through its midpoint (fig. 9). A triangle drawn on the surface of a sphere is called a spherical triangle (fig. 10). A figure with three arbitrary curves is sometimes called a triangle (fig. 11).