| Regular dodecagon | |
|---|---|
 A regular dodecagon | |
| Type | Regular polygon |
| Edges and vertices | 12 |
| Schläfli symbol | {12}, t{6}, tt{3} |
| Coxeter–Dynkin diagrams |     |
| Symmetry group | Dihedral (D12), order 2×12 |
| Internal angle (degrees) | 150° |
| Properties | Convex, cyclic, equilateral, isogonal, isotoxal |
| Dual polygon | Self |
In geometry, a dodecagon, or 12-gon, is any twelve-sided polygon.
A regular dodecagon is a figure with sides of the same length and internal angles of the same size. It has twelve lines of reflective symmetry and rotational symmetry of order 12. A regular dodecagon is represented by the Schläfli symbol {12} and can be constructed as a truncated hexagon, t{6}, or a twice-truncated triangle, tt{3}. The internal angle at each vertex of a regular dodecagon is 150°.
The area of a regular dodecagon of side length a is given by:
And in terms of the apothem r (see also inscribed figure), the area is:
In terms of the circumradius R, the area is: [1]
The span S of the dodecagon is the distance between two parallel sides and is equal to twice the apothem. A simple formula for area (given side length and span) is:
This can be verified with the trigonometric relationship:
The perimeter of a regular dodecagon in terms of circumradius is: [2]
The perimeter in terms of apothem is:
This coefficient is double the coefficient found in the apothem equation for area. [3]
As 12 = 22 × 3, regular dodecagon is constructible using compass-and-straightedge construction:
| 12-cube | 60 rhomb dissection | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  | ||
 |  |  | ||
Coxeter states that every zonogon (a 2m-gon whose opposite sides are parallel and of equal length) can be dissected into m(m-1)/2 parallelograms. [4] In particular this is true for regular polygons with evenly many sides, in which case the parallelograms are all rhombi. For the regular dodecagon, m=6, and it can be divided into 15: 3 squares, 6 wide 30° rhombs and 6 narrow 15° rhombs. This decomposition is based on a Petrie polygon projection of a 6-cube, with 15 of 240 faces. The sequence OEIS sequence A006245 defines the number of solutions as 908, including up to 12-fold rotations and chiral forms in reflection.
 6-cube |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
One of the ways the mathematical manipulative pattern blocks are used is in creating a number of different dodecagons. [5] They are related to the rhombic dissections, with 3 60° rhombi merged into hexagons, half-hexagon trapezoids, or divided into 2 equilateral triangles.
 |  |  Socolar tiling |  Pattern blocks |
The regular dodecagon has Dih12 symmetry, order 24. There are 15 distinct subgroup dihedral and cyclic symmetries. Each subgroup symmetry allows one or more degrees of freedom for irregular forms. Only the g12 subgroup has no degrees of freedom but can be seen as directed edges.
| Example dodecagons by symmetry | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 r24 | ||||||
 d12 |  g12 |  p12 |  i8 | |||
 d6 |  g6 |  p6 |  d4 |  g4 |  p4 | |
 g3 |  d2 |  g2 |  p2 | |||
 a1 | ||||||
A regular dodecagon can fill a plane vertex with other regular polygons in 4 ways:
 |  |  |  |
| 3.12.12 | 4.6.12 | 3.3.4.12 | 3.4.3.12 |
|---|
Here are 3 example periodic plane tilings that use regular dodecagons, defined by their vertex configuration:
| 1-uniform | 2-uniform | |
|---|---|---|
 3.12.12 |  4.6.12 |  3.12.12; 3.4.3.12 |
A skew dodecagon is a skew polygon with 12 vertices and edges but not existing on the same plane. The interior of such a dodecagon is not generally defined. A skew zig-zag dodecagon has vertices alternating between two parallel planes.
A regular skew dodecagon is vertex-transitive with equal edge lengths. In 3-dimensions it will be a zig-zag skew dodecagon and can be seen in the vertices and side edges of a hexagonal antiprism with the same D5d, [2+,10] symmetry, order 20. The dodecagrammic antiprism, s{2,24/5} and dodecagrammic crossed-antiprism, s{2,24/7} also have regular skew dodecagons.
The regular dodecagon is the Petrie polygon for many higher-dimensional polytopes, seen as orthogonal projections in Coxeter planes. Examples in 4 dimensions are the 24-cell, snub 24-cell, 6-6 duoprism, 6-6 duopyramid. In 6 dimensions 6-cube, 6-orthoplex, 221, 122. It is also the Petrie polygon for the grand 120-cell and great stellated 120-cell.
| Regular skew dodecagons in higher dimensions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E6 | F4 | 2G2 (4D) | |||
 221 |  122 |  24-cell |  Snub 24-cell |  6-6 duopyramid |  {6}×{6} |
| A11 | D7 | B6 | 4A2 | ||
 11-simplex |  (411) |  141 |  6-orthoplex |  6-cube |  {3}×{3}×{3}×{3} |
A dodecagram is a 12-sided star polygon, represented by symbol {12/n}. There is one regular star polygon: {12/5}, using the same vertices, but connecting every fifth point. There are also three compounds: {12/2} is reduced to 2{6} as two hexagons, and {12/3} is reduced to 3{4} as three squares, {12/4} is reduced to 4{3} as four triangles, and {12/6} is reduced to 6{2} as six degenerate digons.
| Stars and compounds | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Form | Polygon | Compounds | Star polygon | Compound | ||
| Image |  {12/1} = {12} |  {12/2} or 2{6} |  {12/3} or 3{4} |  {12/4} or 4{3} |  {12/5} |  {12/6} or 6{2} |
Deeper truncations of the regular dodecagon and dodecagrams can produce isogonal (vertex-transitive) intermediate star polygon forms with equal spaced vertices and two edge lengths. A truncated hexagon is a dodecagon, t{6}={12}. A quasitruncated hexagon, inverted as {6/5}, is a dodecagram: t{6/5}={12/5}. [7]
| Vertex-transitive truncations of the hexagon | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Quasiregular | Isogonal | Quasiregular | |
 t{6}={12} |  |  |  t{6/5}={12/5} |
In block capitals, the letters E, H and X (and I in a slab serif font) have dodecagonal outlines. A cross is a dodecagon, as is the logo for the Chevrolet automobile division.
The regular dodecagon features prominently in many buildings. The Torre del Oro is a dodecagonal military watchtower in Seville, southern Spain, built by the Almohad dynasty. The early thirteenth century Vera Cruz church in Segovia, Spain is dodecagonal. Another example is the Porta di Venere (Venus' Gate), in Spello, Italy, built in the 1st century BC has two dodecagonal towers, called "Propertius' Towers".
Regular dodecagonal coins include:
In geometry, an n-gonal antiprism or n-antiprism is a polyhedron composed of two parallel direct copies of an n-sided polygon, connected by an alternating band of 2n triangles. They are represented by the Conway notation An.
In geometry, a bipyramid, dipyramid, or double pyramid is a polyhedron formed by fusing two pyramids together base-to-base. The polygonal base of each pyramid must therefore be the same, and unless otherwise specified the base vertices are usually coplanar and a bipyramid is usually symmetric, meaning the two pyramids are mirror images across their common base plane. When each apex of the bipyramid is on a line perpendicular to the base and passing through its center, it is a right bipyramid; otherwise it is oblique. When the base is a regular polygon, the bipyramid is also called regular.
In geometry, a Platonic solid is a convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the faces are congruent regular polygons, and the same number of faces meet at each vertex. There are only five such polyhedra:
In geometry, a hexagon is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.
In geometry, a heptadecagon, septadecagon or 17-gon is a seventeen-sided polygon.
In geometry, an octagon is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
In geometry, a decagon is a ten-sided polygon or 10-gon. The total sum of the interior angles of a simple decagon is 1440°.
In Euclidean geometry, a regular polygon is a polygon that is direct equiangular and equilateral. Regular polygons may be either convex, star or skew. 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, if the edge length is fixed.
In geometry, a heptagon or septagon is a seven-sided polygon or 7-gon.
In geometry, a nonagon or enneagon is a nine-sided polygon or 9-gon.
In geometry, the 120-cell is the convex regular 4-polytope (four-dimensional analogue of a Platonic solid) with Schläfli symbol {5,3,3}. It is also called a C120, dodecaplex (short for "dodecahedral complex"), hyperdodecahedron, polydodecahedron, hecatonicosachoron, dodecacontachoron and hecatonicosahedroid.
In geometry, a triacontagon or 30-gon is a thirty-sided polygon. The sum of any triacontagon's interior angles is 5040 degrees.
In geometry, a pentadecagon or pentakaidecagon or 15-gon is a fifteen-sided polygon.
In mathematics, a hexadecagon is a sixteen-sided polygon.
In geometry, a pentagon is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°.
In geometry, an icositetragon or 24-gon is a twenty-four-sided polygon. The sum of any icositetragon's interior angles is 3960 degrees.
In geometry, a dodecagram is a star polygon or compound with 12 vertices. There is one regular dodecagram polygon. There are also 4 regular compounds {12/2},{12/3},{12/4}, and {12/6}.
A tridecahedron, or triskaidecahedron, is a polyhedron with thirteen faces. There are numerous topologically distinct forms of a tridecahedron, for example the dodecagonal pyramid and hendecagonal prism. However, a tridecahedron cannot be a regular polyhedron, because there is no regular polygon that can form a regular tridecahedron, and there are only five known regular polyhedra.
In geometry, a planigon is a convex polygon that can fill the plane with only copies of itself. In the Euclidean plane there are 3 regular planigons; equilateral triangle, squares, and regular hexagons; and 8 semiregular planigons; and 4 demiregular planigons which can tile the plane only with other planigons.
