Equilateral polygon

Last updated

In geometry, an equilateral polygon is a polygon which has all sides of the same length. Except in the triangle case, an equilateral polygon does not need to also be equiangular (have all angles equal), but if it does then it is a regular polygon. If the number of sides is at least five, an equilateral polygon does not need to be a convex polygon: it could be concave or even self-intersecting.

Contents

Examples

All regular polygons and edge-transitive polygons are equilateral. When an equilateral polygon is non-crossing and cyclic (its vertices are on a circle) it must be regular. An equilateral quadrilateral must be convex; this polygon is a rhombus (possibly a square).

5-gon equilateral 01.svg
Convex equilateral pentagon
5-gon equilateral 03.svg
Concave equilateral pentagon

A convex equilateral pentagon can be described by two consecutive angles, which together determine the other angles. However, equilateral pentagons, and equilateral polygons with more than five sides, can also be concave, and if concave pentagons are allowed then two angles are no longer sufficient to determine the shape of the pentagon.

A tangential polygon (one that has an incircle tangent to all its sides) is equilateral if and only if the alternate angles are equal (that is, angles 1, 3, 5, ... are equal and angles 2, 4, ... are equal). Thus if the number of sides n is odd, a tangential polygon is equilateral if and only if it is regular. [1]

Measurement

Viviani's theorem generalizes to equilateral polygons: [2] The sum of the perpendicular distances from an interior point to the sides of an equilateral polygon is independent of the location of the interior point.

The principal diagonals of a hexagon each divide the hexagon into quadrilaterals. In any convex equilateral hexagon with common side a, there exists a principal diagonal d1 such that [3]

and a principal diagonal d2 such that

.

Optimality

Four Reinhardt pentadecagons Reinhardt 15-gons.svg
Four Reinhardt pentadecagons

When an equilateral polygon is inscribed in a Reuleaux polygon, it forms a Reinhardt polygon. Among all convex polygons with the same number of sides, these polygons have the largest possible perimeter for their diameter, the largest possible width for their diameter, and the largest possible width for their perimeter. [4]

Related Research Articles

In geometry, a polygon is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two together, may be called a polygon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quadrilateral</span> Polygon with four sides and four corners

In geometry a quadrilateral is a four-sided polygon, having four edges (sides) and four corners (vertices). The word is derived from the Latin words quadri, a variant of four, and latus, meaning "side". It is also called a tetragon, derived from greek "tetra" meaning "four" and "gon" meaning "corner" or "angle", in analogy to other polygons. Since "gon" means "angle", it is analogously called a quadrangle, or 4-angle. A quadrilateral with vertices , , and is sometimes denoted as .

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hexagon</span> Shape with six sides

In geometry, a hexagon or sexagon is a six-sided polygon or 6-gon creating the outline of a cube. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rectangle</span> Quadrilateral with four right angles

In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal ; or a parallelogram containing a right angle. A rectangle with four sides of equal length is a square. The term "oblong" is occasionally used to refer to a non-square rectangle. A rectangle with vertices ABCD would be denoted as  ABCD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kite (geometry)</span> Quadrilateral symmetric across a diagonal

In Euclidean geometry, a kite is a quadrilateral with reflection symmetry across a diagonal. Because of this symmetry, a kite has two equal angles and two pairs of adjacent equal-length sides. Kites are also known as deltoids, but the word deltoid may also refer to a deltoid curve, an unrelated geometric object sometimes studied in connection with quadrilaterals. A kite may also be called a dart, particularly if it is not convex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhombus</span> Quadrilateral in which all sides have the same length

In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhombus is often called a "diamond", after the diamonds suit in playing cards which resembles the projection of an octahedral diamond, or a lozenge, though the former sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 60° angle, and the latter sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 45° angle.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Square</span> Regular quadrilateral

In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles. It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adjacent sides. It is the only regular polygon whose internal angle, central angle, and external angle are all equal (90°), and whose diagonals are all equal in length. A square with vertices ABCD would be denoted ABCD.

In geometry, lines in a plane or higher-dimensional space are said to be concurrent if they intersect at a single point. They are in contrast to parallel lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equiangular polygon</span>

In Euclidean geometry, an equiangular polygon is a polygon whose vertex angles are equal. If the lengths of the sides are also equal then it is a regular polygon. Isogonal polygons are equiangular polygons which alternate two edge lengths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tangential quadrilateral</span> Polygon whose four sides all touch a circle

In Euclidean geometry, a tangential quadrilateral or circumscribed quadrilateral is a convex quadrilateral whose sides all can be tangent to a single circle within the quadrilateral. This circle is called the incircle of the quadrilateral or its inscribed circle, its center is the incenter and its radius is called the inradius. Since these quadrilaterals can be drawn surrounding or circumscribing their incircles, they have also been called circumscribable quadrilaterals, circumscribing quadrilaterals, and circumscriptible quadrilaterals. Tangential quadrilaterals are a special case of tangential polygons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viviani's theorem</span> On the sum of the distances from an interior point to the sides of an equilateral triangle

Viviani's theorem, named after Vincenzo Viviani, states that the sum of the distances from any interior point to the sides of an equilateral triangle equals the length of the triangle's altitude. It is a theorem commonly employed in various math competitions, secondary school mathematics examinations, and has wide applicability to many problems in the real world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varignon's theorem</span> The midpoints of the sides of an arbitrary quadrilateral form a parallelogram

Varignon's theorem is a statement in Euclidean geometry, that deals with the construction of a particular parallelogram, the Varignon parallelogram, from an arbitrary quadrilateral (quadrangle). It is named after Pierre Varignon, whose proof was published posthumously in 1731.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equilateral pentagon</span>

In geometry, an equilateral pentagon is a polygon in the Euclidean plane with five sides of equal length. Its five vertex angles can take a range of sets of values, thus permitting it to form a family of pentagons. In contrast, the regular pentagon is unique, because it is equilateral and moreover it is equiangular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentagon</span> Shape with five sides

In geometry, a pentagon is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orthodiagonal quadrilateral</span>

In Euclidean geometry, an orthodiagonal quadrilateral is a quadrilateral in which the diagonals cross at right angles. In other words, it is a four-sided figure in which the line segments between non-adjacent vertices are orthogonal (perpendicular) to each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biggest little polygon</span>

In geometry, the biggest little polygon for a number n is the n-sided polygon that has diameter one and that has the largest area among all diameter-one n-gons. One non-unique solution when n = 4 is a square, and the solution is a regular polygon when n is an odd number, but the solution is irregular otherwise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tangential polygon</span> Convex polygon that contains an inscribed circle

In Euclidean geometry, a tangential polygon, also known as a circumscribed polygon, is a convex polygon that contains an inscribed circle. This is a circle that is tangent to each of the polygon's sides. The dual polygon of a tangential polygon is a cyclic polygon, which has a circumscribed circle passing through each of its vertices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Right kite</span> Symmetrical quadrilateral

In Euclidean geometry, a right kite is a kite that can be inscribed in a circle. That is, it is a kite with a circumcircle. Thus the right kite is a convex quadrilateral and has two opposite right angles. If there are exactly two right angles, each must be between sides of different lengths. All right kites are bicentric quadrilaterals, since all kites have an incircle. One of the diagonals divides the right kite into two right triangles and is also a diameter of the circumcircle.

References

  1. De Villiers, Michael (March 2011), "Equi-angled cyclic and equilateral circumscribed polygons" (PDF), Mathematical Gazette , 95: 102–107, doi:10.1017/S0025557200002461 .
  2. De Villiers, Michael (2012), "An illustration of the explanatory and discovery functions of proof", Leonardo , 33 (3): 1–8, doi: 10.4102/pythagoras.v33i3.193 , explaining (proving) Viviani's theorem for an equilateral triangle by determining the area of the three triangles it is divided up into, and noticing the 'common factor' of the equal sides of these triangles as bases, may allow one to immediately see that the result generalises to any equilateral polygon.
  3. Inequalities proposed in “Crux Mathematicorum, , p.184,#286.3.
  4. Hare, Kevin G.; Mossinghoff, Michael J. (2019), "Most Reinhardt polygons are sporadic", Geometriae Dedicata , 198: 1–18, arXiv: 1405.5233 , doi:10.1007/s10711-018-0326-5, MR   3933447, S2CID   119629098