In Euclidean geometry, a circle is the set of all points in a plane at a fixed distance, called

the radius, from a given point, the centre.

Circles are simple closed curves which divide the plane into an interior and exterior. The
circumference of a circle is basically the perimeter of the circle, and the interior of the
circle is called a disk. An arc is any continuous portion of a circle.
A circle is a special ellipse in which the two foci coincide (i.e., are the same point).
Circles are conic sections attained when a right circular cone is intersected with a plane
perpendicular to the axis of the cone.

Circle of radius r=1, centre (a, b)=(1.2, -0.5).

Equation of a circle
In an x-y coordinate system, the circle with centre (a, b) and radius r is the set of all
points (x, y) such that

The equation of the circle follows from the Pythagorean theorem applied to any point on
the circle.

If the circle is centred at the origin (0, 0), then this formula can be simplified to

and its tangent will be

where x1, y1 are the coordinates of the common point.

When expressed in parametric equations, (x, y) can be written using the trigonometric
functions sine and cosine as

where t is a parametric variable, understood as the angle the ray to (x, y) makes with the
x-axis.
In homogeneous coordinates each conic section with equation of a circle is

It can be proven that a conic section is a circle if and only if the point I(1,i,0) and J(1,-i,0)
lie on the conic section. These points are called the circular points at infinity.
In polar coordinates the equation of a circle is

In the complex plane, a circle with a centre at c and radius r has the equation | z c | 2 =
r2. Since

, the slightly generalized equation

for real p, q and complex g is sometimes called a generalized

circle. It is important to note that not all generalized circles are actually circles.

Slope
The slope of a circle at a point (x, y) can be expressed with the following formula,
assuming the centre is at the origin and (x, y) is on the circle:

More generally, the slope at a point (x, y) on the circle (x a)2 + (y b)2 = r2, i.e., the
circle centred at (a, b) with radius r units, is given by

provided that

, of course.

Pi ()

Pi or is the ratio of a circle's Circumference to its Diameter.

The numeric value of never changes.

is always approximately 3.14159.
In modern English, it is pronounced /pa/ (as in apple pie).

Circumference

Main article: Circumference

Length of a circle's circumference is

Alternate formula for circumference:

Given that the ratio circumference c to the Area A is

The r and the can be canceled, leaving

Therefore solving for c:

So the circumference is equal to 2 times the area, divided by the radius. This can be used
to calculate the circumference when a value for cannot be computed.

Diameter
Main article: Diameter
The diameter of a circle is a straight line through the center of the circle touching the
circle at both sides.
The diameter of a circle is double its radius.

Area enclosed

Area of the circle = area of the shaded square

Main article: Area of a disk
The area enclosed by a circle is the radius squared, multiplied by .

Using a square with side lengths equal to the diameter of the circle, then dividing the
square into four squares with side lengths equal to the radius of the circle, take the area of
the smaller square and multiply by .

that is, approximately 79% of the circumscribing square.

Properties

The circle is the shape with the highest area for a given length of perimeter. (See
Isoperimetry)
The circle is a highly symmetric shape: every line through the centre forms a line
of reflection symmetry and it has rotational symmetry around the centre for every
angle. Its symmetry group is the orthogonal group O(2,R). The group of rotations
alone is the circle group T.
All circles are similar.
o A circle's circumference and radius are proportional,
o The area enclosed and the square of its radius are proportional.
o The constants of proportionality are 2 and , respectively.
The circle centred at the origin with radius 1 is called the unit circle.

Chord properties

Chords equidistant from the centre of a circle are equal (length).

Equal (length) chords are equidistant from the centre.

The perpendicular bisector of a chord passes through the centre of a circle;

equivalent statements stemming from the uniqueness of the perpendicular
bisector:
o A perpendicular line from the centre of a circle bisects the chord.
o The line segment (Circular segment) through the centre bisecting a chord
is perpendicular to the chord.
If a central angle and an inscribed angle of a circle are subtended by the same
chord and on the same side of the chord, then the central angle is twice the
inscribed angle.
If two angles are inscribed on the same chord and on the same side of the chord,
then they are equal.
If two angles are inscribed on the same chord and on opposite sides of the chord,
then they are supplemental.
o For a cyclic quadrilateral, the exterior angle is equal to the interior
opposite angle.
An inscribed angle subtended by a diameter is a right angle.
The diameter is longest chord of the circle.

Sagitta properties

The sagitta is a line segment drawn perpendicular to a chord, between the

midpoint of that chord and the circumference of the circle.
Given the length of a chord, y, and the length x of the sagitta, the Pythagorean
theorem can be used to calculate the radius of the unique circle which will fit
around the 2 lines :

Tangent properties

The line drawn perpendicular to the end point of a radius is a tangent to the circle.
A line drawn perpendicular to a tangent at the point of contact with a circle passes
through the centre of the circle.
Tangents drawn from a point outside the circle are equal in length.
Two tangents can always be drawn from a point outside of the circle.

[edit] Theorems

Secant-secant theorem
See also: Power of a point
The chord theorem states that if two chords, CD and EF, intersect at G, then
. (Chord theorem)
If a tangent from an external point D meets the circle at C and a secant from the
external point D meets the circle at G and E respectively, then

. (tangent-secant theorem)
If two secants, DG and DE, also cut the circle at H and F respectively, then
. (Corollary of the tangent-secant theorem)
The angle between a tangent and chord is equal to the subtended angle on the
opposite side of the chord. (Tangent chord property)
If the angle subtended by the chord at the centre is 90 degrees then l = (2) r,
where l is the length of the chord and r is the radius of the circle.
If two secants are inscribed in the circle as shown at right, then the measurement
of angle A is equal to one half the difference of the measurements of the enclosed
arcs (DE and BC). This is the secant-secant theorem.

Inscribed angles

Inscribed angle theorem

An inscribed angle is exactly half of the corresponding central angle (see Figure).
Hence, all inscribed angles that subtend the same arc have the same value (cf. the blue
and green angles in the Figure). Angles inscribed on the arc are supplementary. In
particular, every inscribed angle that subtends a diameter is a right angle.

An alternative definition of a circle

Apollonius' definition of a circle

Apollonius of Perga showed that a circle may also be defined as the set of points having a
constant ratio of distances to two foci, A and B.
The proof is as follows. A line segment PC bisects the interior angle APB, since the
segments are similar:

Analogously, a line segment PD bisects the corresponding exterior angle. Since the
interior and exterior angles sum to
, the angle CPD is exactly
, i.e., a right
angle. The set of points P that form a right angle with a given line segment CD form a
circle, of which CD is the diameter.
As a point of clarification, note that C and D are determined by A, B, and the desired
ratio; i.e. A and B are not arbitrary points lying on an extension of the diameter of an
existing circle.

Calculating the parameters of a circle

Early science, particularly geometry and astronomy/astrology, was connected to the

divine for most medieval scholars. The compass in this 13th century manuscript is a
symbol of God's act of Creation, as many believed that there was something intrinsically
"divine" or "perfect" that could be found in circles

The Twelve-Mile Circle is an arc of a circle with a twelve-mile radius, with the center of
the circle in the center of the town of New Castle, Delaware.
Given three non-collinear points lying on the circle

Radius
The radius of the circle is given by

Center
The center of the circle is given by

where

Plane unit normal

A unit normal of the plane containing the circle is given by

Parametric Equation
Given the radius, r , center, Pc, a point on the circle, P0 and a unit normal of the plane
containing the circle, , the parametric equation of the circle starting from the point P0
and proceeding counterclockwise is given by the following equation:

A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or
vertices and three sides or edges which are straight line segments.

Types of triangles
Triangles can be classified according to the relative lengths of their sides:

In an equilateral triangle, all sides are of equal length. An equilateral triangle is

also an equiangular polygon, i.e. all its internal angles are equalnamely, 60; it
is a regular polygon[1]
In an isosceles triangle, two sides are of equal length. An isosceles triangle also
has two congruent angles (namely, the angles opposite the congruent sides). An
equilateral triangle is an isosceles triangle, but not all isosceles triangles are
equilateral triangles.[2]
In a scalene triangle, all sides have different lengths. The internal angles in a
scalene triangle are all different.[3]

Equilateral

Isosceles

Scalene

Triangles can also be classified according to their internal angles, described below using
degrees of arc:

A right triangle (or right-angled triangle, formerly called a rectangled

triangle) has one 90 internal angle (a right angle). The side opposite to the right
angle is the hypotenuse; it is the longest side in the right triangle. The other two
sides are the legs or catheti (singular: cathetus) of the triangle.
An obtuse triangle has one internal angle larger than 90 (an obtuse angle).
An acute triangle has internal angles that are all smaller than 90 (three acute
angles). An equilateral triangle is an acute triangle, but not all acute triangles are
equilateral triangles.
An oblique triangle has only angles that are smaller or larger than 90.

Right

Obtuse

Acute

Oblique

Basic facts
Elementary facts about triangles were presented by Euclid in books 1-4 of his Elements
around 300 BCE. A triangle is a polygon and a 2-simplex (see polytope). All triangles are
two-dimensional.
The angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees. An exterior angle of a triangle (an angle
that is adjacent and supplementary to an internal angle) is always equal to the two angles
of a triangle that it is not adjacent/supplementary to. Like all convex polygons, the
exterior angles of a triangle add up to 360 degrees.
The sum of the lengths of any two sides of a triangle always exceeds (or at the very least,
equals) the length of the third side. That is the triangle inequality. (In the special case of
equality, two of the angles have collapsed to size zero, and the triangle has degenerated to
a line segment.)
Two triangles are said to be similar if and only if the angles of one are equal to the
corresponding angles of the other. In this case, the lengths of their corresponding sides
are proportional. This occurs for example when two triangles share an angle and the sides
opposite to that angle are parallel.
A few basic postulates and theorems about similar triangles:

Two triangles are similar if at least 2 corresponding angles are congruent.

If two corresponding sides of two triangles are in proportion, and their included
angles are congruent, the triangles are similar.
If three sides of two triangles are in proportion, the triangles are similar.

For two triangles to be congruent, each of their corresponding angles and sides must be
congruent (6 total). A few basic postulates and theorems about congruent triangles:

SAS Postulate: If two sides and the included angles of two triangles are
correspondingly congruent, the two triangles are congruent.
SSS Postulate: If every side of two triangles are correspondingly congruent, the
triangles are congruent.
ASA Postulate: If two angles and the included sides of two triangles are
correspondingly congruent, the two triangles are congruent.
AAS Theorem: If two angles and any side of two triangles are correspondingly
congruent, the two triangles are congruent.
Hypotenuse-Leg Theorem: If the hypotenuses and 1 pair of legs of two right
triangles are correspondingly congruent, the triangles are congruent.

Using right triangles and the concept of similarity, the trigonometric functions sine and
cosine can be defined. These are functions of an angle which are investigated in
trigonometry.
In Euclidean geometry, the sum of the internal angles of a triangle is equal to 180. This
allows determination of the third angle of any triangle as soon as two angles are known.

The Pythagorean theorem

A central theorem is the Pythagorean theorem, which states in any right triangle, the
square of the length of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the lengths of the
two other sides. If the hypotenuse has length c, and the legs have lengths a and b, then the
theorem states that

The converse is true: if the lengths of the sides of a triangle satisfy the above equation,
then the triangle is a right triangle.
Some other facts about right triangles:

The acute angles of a right triangle are complementary.

If the legs of a right triangle are congruent, then the angles opposite the legs are
congruent, acute and complementary, and thus are both 45 degrees. By the
Pythagorean theorem, the length of the hypotenuse is the square root of two times
the length of a leg.
In a 30-60 right triangle, in which the acute angles measure 30 and 60 degrees, the
hypotenuse is twice the length of the shorter side.

For all triangles, angles and sides are related by the law of cosines and law of sines.

Points, lines and circles associated with a triangle

There are hundreds of different constructions that find a special point inside a triangle,
satisfying some unique property: see the references section for a catalogue of them. Often
they are constructed by finding three lines associated in a symmetrical way with the three
sides (or vertices) and then proving that the three lines meet in a single point: an

important tool for proving the existence of these is Ceva's theorem, which gives a
criterion for determining when three such lines are concurrent. Similarly, lines associated
with a triangle are often constructed by proving that three symmetrically constructed
points are collinear: here Menelaus' theorem gives a useful general criterion. In this
section just a few of the most commonly-encountered constructions are explained.

The circumcenter is the center of a circle passing through the three vertices of the
triangle.
A perpendicular bisector of a triangle is a straight line passing through the midpoint of a
side and being perpendicular to it, i.e. forming a right angle with it. The three
perpendicular bisectors meet in a single point, the triangle's circumcenter; this point is the
center of the circumcircle, the circle passing through all three vertices. The diameter of
this circle can be found from the law of sines stated above.
Thales' theorem implies that if the circumcenter is located on one side of the triangle,
then the opposite angle is a right one. More is true: if the circumcenter is located inside
the triangle, then the triangle is acute; if the circumcenter is located outside the triangle,
then the triangle is obtuse.

The intersection of the altitudes is the orthocenter.

An altitude of a triangle is a straight line through a vertex and perpendicular to (i.e.
forming a right angle with) the opposite side. This opposite side is called the base of the
altitude, and the point where the altitude intersects the base (or its extension) is called the
foot of the altitude. The length of the altitude is the distance between the base and the
vertex. The three altitudes intersect in a single point, called the orthocenter of the triangle.

The orthocenter lies inside the triangle if and only if the triangle is acute. The three
vertices together with the orthocenter are said to form an orthocentric system.

The intersection of the angle bisectors finds the center of the incircle.
An angle bisector of a triangle is a straight line through a vertex which cuts the
corresponding angle in half. The three angle bisectors intersect in a single point, the
incenter, the center of the triangle's incircle. The incircle is the circle which lies inside the
triangle and touches all three sides. There are three other important circles, the excircles;
they lie outside the triangle and touch one side as well as the extensions of the other two.
The centers of the in- and excircles form an orthocentric system.

The barycenter is the center of gravity.

A median of a triangle is a straight line through a vertex and the midpoint of the opposite
side, and divides the triangle into two equal areas. The three medians intersect in a single
point, the triangle's centroid. This is also the triangle's center of gravity: if the triangle
were made out of wood, say, you could balance it on its centroid, or on any line through
the centroid. The centroid cuts every median in the ratio 2:1, i.e. the distance between a
vertex and the centroid is twice as large as the distance between the centroid and the
midpoint of the opposite side.

Nine-point circle demonstrates a symmetry where six points lie on the edge of the
triangle.
The midpoints of the three sides and the feet of the three altitudes all lie on a single
circle, the triangle's nine-point circle. The remaining three points for which it is named
are the midpoints of the portion of altitude between the vertices and the orthocenter. The
radius of the nine-point circle is half that of the circumcircle. It touches the incircle (at
the Feuerbach point) and the three excircles.

Euler's line is a straight line through the centroid (orange), orthocenter (blue),
circumcenter (green) and center of the nine-point circle (red).
The centroid (yellow), orthocenter (blue), circumcenter (green) and barycenter of the
nine-point circle (red point) all lie on a single line, known as Euler's line (red line). The
center of the nine-point circle lies at the midpoint between the orthocenter and the
circumcenter, and the distance between the centroid and the circumcenter is half that
between the centroid and the orthocenter.
The center of the incircle is not in general located on Euler's line.
If one reflects a median at the angle bisector that passes through the same vertex, one
obtains a symmedian. The three symmedians intersect in a single point, the symmedian
point of the triangle.

Computing the area of a triangle

Calculating the area of a triangle is an elementary problem encountered often in many
different situations. The best known, and simplest formula is

where S is area, b is the length of the base of the triangle, and h is the height or altitude of
the triangle. The term 'base' denotes any side, and 'height' denotes the length of a
perpendicular from the point opposite the side onto the side itself.
Although simple, this formula is only useful if the height can be readily found. For
example, the surveyor of a triangular field measures the length of each side, and can find
the area from his results without having to construct a 'height'. Various methods may be
used in practice, depending on what is known about the triangle. The following is a
selection of frequently used formulae for the area of a triangle.[4]

Using vectors
The area of a parallelogram can be calculated using vectors. Let vectors AB and AC point
respectively from A to B and from A to C. The area of parallelogram ABDC is then |
AB AC|, which is the magnitude of the cross product of vectors AB and AC. |AB AC|
is equal to |h AC|, where h represents the altitude h as a vector.
The area of triangle ABC is half of this, or S = |AB AC|.
The area of triangle ABC can also be expressed in term of dot products as follows:

Applying trigonometry to find the altitude h.

Using trigonometry
The altitude of a triangle can be found through an application of trigonometry. Using the
labelling as in the image on the left, the altitude is h = a sin . Substituting this in the
formula S = bh derived above, the area of the triangle can be expressed as:

Furthermore, since sin = sin ( - ) = sin ( + ), and similarly for the other two angles:

Using coordinates
If vertex A is located at the origin (0, 0) of a Cartesian coordinate system and the
coordinates of the other two vertices are given by B = (xB, yB) and C = (xC, yC), then the
area S can be computed as times the absolute value of the determinant

For three general vertices, the equation is:

In three dimensions, the area of a general triangle {A = (xA, yA, zA), B = (xB, yB, zB) and
C = (xC, yC, zC)} is the 'Pythagorean' sum of the areas of the respective projections on the
three principal planes (i.e. x = 0, y = 0 and z = 0):

Using Heron's formula

The shape of the triangle is determined by the lengths of the sides alone. Therefore the
area S also can be derived from the lengths of the sides. By Heron's formula:

where s = (a + b + c) is the semiperimeter, or half of the triangle's perimeter.

An equivalent way of writing Heron's formula is

Non-planar triangles
A non-planar triangle is a triangle which is not contained in a (flat) plane. Examples of
non-planar triangles in noneuclidean geometries are spherical triangles in spherical
geometry and hyperbolic triangles in hyperbolic geometry.
While all regular, planar (two dimensional) triangles contain angles that add up to 180,
there are cases in which the angles of a triangle can be greater than or less than 180. In
curved figures, a triangle on a negatively curved figure ("saddle") will have its angles add
up to less than 180 while a triangle on a positively curved figure ("sphere") will have its
angles add up to more than 180. Thus, if one were to draw a giant triangle on the surface
of the Earth, one would find that the sum of its angles were greater than 180.

In geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four sides or edges and four vertices or
corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used, for etymological symmetry with
triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency with pentagon (5 sided), hexagon (6
sided) and so on. However, the term quadrangle could be considered incorrect, as the
laws of Euclid state that an angle's degree measure must be less than 180, and so a
concave quadrilateral has only 3 angles.
Quadrilaterals are either simple (not self-intersecting) or complex (self-intersecting).
Simple quadrilaterals are either convex or concave

Convex quadrilaterals
Convex quadrilaterals are further classified as follows:

Trapezium (in British) or trapezoid (American English): no sides are parallel.

Trapezium (British English) or trapezoid (Amer.): two opposite sides are parallel.
Isosceles trapezium (Brit.) or isosceles trapezoid (Amer.): two opposite sides are
parallel, the two other sides are of equal length, and the two ends of each parallel
side have equal angles. This implies that the diagonals are of equal length.
Parallelogram: both pairs of opposite sides are parallel. This implies that opposite
sides are of equal length, opposite angles are equal, and the diagonals bisect each
other.
Kite: two adjacent sides are of equal length and the other two sides also of equal
length. This implies that one set of opposite angles is equal, and that one diagonal
perpendicularly bisects the other. (It is common, especially in the discussions on
plane tessellations, to refer to a concave kite as a dart or arrowhead.)
Rhombus or rhomb: all four sides are of equal length. This implies that opposite
sides are parallel, opposite angles are equal, and the diagonals perpendicularly
bisect each other.
Rhomboid: a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and
angles are oblique (not right angles).
Rectangle (or Oblong): all four angles are right angles. This implies that opposite
sides are parallel and of equal length, and the diagonals bisect each other and are
equal in length.
Square (regular quadrilateral): all four sides are of equal length (equilateral), and
all four angles are equal (equiangular), with each angle a right angle. This implies
that opposite sides are parallel (a square is a parallelogram), and that the diagonals
perpendicularly bisect each other and are of equal length. A quadrilateral is a
square if and only if it is both a rhombus and a rectangle.
Cyclic quadrilateral: the four vertices lie on a circumscribed circle.
Tangential quadrilateral: the four edges are tangential to an inscribed circle.
Another term for a tangential polygon is inscriptible.
Bicentric quadrilateral: both cyclic and tangential.

More quadrilaterals

An arrowhead has bilateral symmetry like a kite, but the top concaves inwards.
A self-intersecting quadrilateral is called variously a cross-quadrilateral,
butterfly quadrilateral or bow-tie quadrilateral.
An equiangular quadrilateral is a rectangle if convex, and an "angular eight" with
corners on a rectangle if non-convex.
A quadrilateral whose vertices do not all lie in a flat plane is a skew
quadrilateral.

Taxonomy
A taxonomy of quadrilaterals is illustrated by the following graph. Lower forms are
special cases of higher forms. Note that "trapezium" here is referring to the British
definition (the American equivalent is a trapezoid).

In geometry a polygon (IPA: /pln, plin/) is a plane figure that is bounded by a

closed path or circuit, composed of a finite sequence of straight line segments (i.e., by a
closed polygonal chain). These segments are called its edges or sides, and the points
where two edges meet are the polygon's vertices or corners. The interior of the polygon is
called its body. A polygon is a 2-dimensional example of the more general polytope in
any number of dimensions.
In the computer graphics (image generation) field, the term polygon has taken on a
slightly altered meaning, more related to the way the shape is stored and manipulated
within the computer.

Number of sides
Polygons are primarily classified by the number of sides, see naming polygons below.

Convexity
Polygons may be characterised by their degree of convexity:

Convex: any line drawn through the polygon (and not tangent to an edge or
corner) meets its boundary exactly twice.
Non-convex: a line may be found which meets its boundary more than twice.
Simple: the boundary of the polygon does not cross itself. All convex polygons
are simple.
Concave: Non-convex and simple.
Star-shaped: the whole interior is visible from a single point, without crossing
any edge. The polygon must be simple, and may be convex or concave.
Self-intersecting: the boundary of the polygon crosses itself. Branko Grnbaum
calls these coptic, though this term does not seem to be widely used. The term
complex is sometimes used in contrast to simple, but this is mistaken: a complex
polygon is one which exists in the unitary plane, which comprises two complex
dimensions.
Star polygon: a polygon which self-intersects in a regular way.

Symmetry

Equiangular: all its corner angles are equal.

Cyclic: all corners lie on a single circle.
Isogonal or vertex-transitive: all corners lie within the same symmetry orbit. The
polygon is also cyclic and equiangular.
Equilateral: all edges are of the same length. (A polygon with 5 or more sides
can be equilateral without being convex.) (Williams 1979, pp. 31-32)
Isotoxal or edge-transitive: all sides lie within the same symmetry orbit. The
polygon is also equilateral.
Regular. A polygon is regular if it is both cyclic and equilateral. A non-convex
regular polygon is called a regular star polygon.

Miscellaneous

Rectilinear: a polygon whose sides meet at right angles, i.e., all its interior angles
are 90 or 270 degrees.
Monotone with respect to a given line L, if every line orthogonal to L intersects
the polygon not more than twice.

Properties
We will assume Euclidean geometry throughout.

Angles

Any polygon, regular or irregular, complex or simple, has as many corners as it

has sides.
Each corner has several angles. The two most important ones are:
o Interior angle - The sum of the interior angles of a simple n-gon is (n2)
radians or (n2)180 degrees. This is because any simple n-gon can be
considered to be made up of (n2) triangles, each of which has an angle
sum of radians or 180 degrees. In topology and analysis,
o Exterior angle - Imagine walking around a simple n-gon marked on the
floor. The amount you "turn" at a corner is the exterior or external angle.
Walking all the way round the polygon, you make one full turn, so the sum
of the exterior angles must be 360. The exterior angle is the
supplementary angle to the interior angle, and from this the sum of the
interior angles can be easily confirmed.

The reasoning also applies if some interior angles are more than 180: going clockwise
around, it means that one sometime turns left instead of right, which is counted as turning
a negative amount. (Thus we consider something like the winding number of the
orientation of the sides, where at every vertex the contribution is between - and
winding.)
The measure of any interior angle of a convex regular n-gon is (n2)/n radians or
(n2)180/n degrees. The interior angles of regular star polygons were first studied by
Poinsot, in the same paper in which he describes the four regular star polyhedra.
Moving around an n-gon in general, the sum of the exterior angles (the total amount one
"turns" at the vertices) can be any integer multiple of 360, e.g. 720 for a pentagram and
0 for an angular "eight". See also orbit (dynamics).

Area and centroid

Nomenclature of a 2D polygon.
The area of a polygon is the measurement of the 2-dimensional region enclosed by the
polygon. For a non-self-intersecting (simple) polygon with n vertices, the area and
centroid are given by[1]:

To close the polygon, the first and last vertices are the same, ie xn,yn = x0,y0. The vertices
must be ordered clockwise or counterclockwise, if they are ordered clockwise the area
will be negative but correct in absolute value.
The formula was described by Meister in 1769 and by Gauss in 1795. It can be verified
by dividing the polygon into triangles, but it can also be seen as a special case of Green's
theorem.
The area A of a simple polygon can also be computed if the lengths of the sides, a1,a2, ...,
an and the exterior angles, 1,2, ..., n are known. The formula is

The formula was described by Lopshits in 1963.[2]

If the polygon can be drawn on an equally-spaced grid such that all its vertices are grid
points, Pick's theorem gives a simple formula for the polygon's area based on the
numbers of interior and boundary grid points.
If any two simple polygons of equal area are given, then the first can be cut into
polygonal pieces which can be reassembled to form the second polygon. This is the
Bolyai-Gerwien theorem.
For a regular polygon with n sides of length s, the area is given by:

Self-intersecting polygons
The area of a self-intersecting polygon can be defined in two different ways, each of
which gives a different answer:

Using the above methods for simple polygons, we discover that particular regions
within the polygon may have their area multiplied by a factor which we call the
density of the region. For example the central convex pentagon in the centre of a
pentagram has density = 2. The two triangular regions of a cross-quadrilateral
(like a figure 8) have opposite-signed densities, and adding their areas together
can give a total area of zero for the whole figure.
Considering the enclosed regions as point sets, we can find the area of the
enclosed point set. This corresponds to the area of the plane covered by the
polygon, or to the area of a simple polygon having the same outline as the selfintersecting one (or, in the case of the cross-quadrilateral, the two simple
triangles).

Degrees of freedom
An n-gon has 2n degrees of freedom, including 2 for position and 1 for rotational
orientation, and 1 for over-all size, so 2n-4 for shape. In the case of a line of symmetry
the latter reduces to n-2.
Let k2. For an nk-gon with k-fold rotational symmetry (Ck), there are 2n-2 degrees of
freedom for the shape. With additional mirror-image symmetry (Dk) there are n-1 degrees
of freedom.

Generalizations of polygons
In a broad sense, a polygon is an unbounded sequence or circuit of alternating segments
(sides) and angles (corners). The modern mathematical understanding is to describe this
structural sequence in terms of an 'abstract' polygon which is a partially-ordered set

(poset) of elements. The interior (body) of the polygon is another element, and (for
technical reasons) so is the null polytope or nullitope.
Generally, a geometric polygon is a 'realization' of this abstract polygon; this involves
some 'mapping' of elements from the abstract to the geometric. Such a polygon does not
have to lie in a plane, or have straight sides, or enclose an area, and individual elements
can overlap or even coincide. For example a spherical polygon is drawn on the surface of
a sphere, and its sides are arcs of great circles. As another example, most polygons are
unbounded because they close back on themselves, while apeirogons (infinite polygons)
are unbounded because they go on for ever so you can never reach any bounding end
point. So when we talk about "polygons" we must be careful to explain what kind we are
talking about.
A digon is a closed polygon having two sides and two corners. On the sphere, we can
mark two opposing points (like the North and South poles) and join them by half a great
circle. Add another arc of a different great circle and you have a digon. Tile the sphere
with digons and you have a polyhedron called a hosohedron. Take just one great circle
instead, run it all the way round, and add just one "corner" point, and you have a
monogon or henagon.
Other realizations of these polygons are possible on other surfaces - but in the Euclidean
(flat) plane, their bodies cannot be sensibly realized and we think of them as degenerate.
The idea of a polygon has been generalised in various ways. Here is a short list of some
degenerate cases (or special cases, depending on your point of view):

Digon. Angle of 0 in the Euclidean plane. See remarks above re. on the sphere.
Angle of 180: In the plane this gives an apeirogon), on the sphere a dihedron
A skew polygon does not lie in a flat plane, but zigzags in three (or more)
dimensions. The Petrie polygons of the regular polyhedra are classic examples.
A spherical polygon is a circuit of sides and corners on the surface of a sphere.
An apeirogon is an infinite sequence of sides and angles, which is not closed but
it has no ends because it extends infinitely.
A complex polygon is a figure analogous to an ordinary polygon, which exists in
the unitary plane.

Naming polygons
The word 'polygon' comes from Late Latin polygnum (a noun), from Greek
polygnon/polugnon , noun use of neuter of polygnos/polugnos
(the masculine adjective), meaning "many-angled". Individual polygons are named (and
sometimes classified) according to the number of sides, combining a Greek-derived
numerical prefix with the suffix -gon, e.g. pentagon, dodecagon. The triangle,
quadrilateral, and nonagon are exceptions. For large numbers, mathematicians usually
write the numeral itself, e.g. 17-gon. A variable can even be used, usually n-gon. This is
useful if the number of sides is used in a formula.

Some special polygons also have their own names; for example, the regular star pentagon
is also known as the pentagram.
Polygon names

Name

Edges

henagon (or monogon)

digon

triangle (or trigon)

quadrilateral (or tetragon)

pentagon

hexagon

heptagon (avoid "septagon" = Latin [sept-] + Greek)

octagon

enneagon (or nonagon)

decagon

10

hendecagon (avoid "undecagon" = Latin [un-] + Greek)

11

dodecagon (avoid "duodecagon" = Latin [duo-] + Greek)

12

tridecagon (or triskaidecagon)

13

tetradecagon (or tetrakaidecagon)

14

pentadecagon (or quindecagon or pentakaidecagon)

15

hexadecagon (or hexakaidecagon)

16

heptadecagon (or heptakaidecagon)

17

octadecagon (or octakaidecagon)

18

enneadecagon (or enneakaidecagon or nonadecagon)

19

icosagon

20

No established English name

"hectogon" is the Greek name (see hectometre),
"centagon" is a Latin-Greek hybrid; neither is widely attested.

100

chiliagon

1000

myriagon

10,000

googolgon

10100

To construct the name of a polygon with more than 20 and less than 100 edges, combine
the prefixes as follows
Tens

and

Ones

final suffix

1 -hena-

20 icosi-

2 -di-

30 triaconta-

3 -tri-

40 tetraconta-

4 -tetra-

50 pentaconta-

5 -pentakai-

60 hexaconta-

6 -hexa-

70 heptaconta-

7 -hepta-

80 octaconta-

8 -octa-

90 enneaconta-

9 -ennea-

-gon

The 'kai' is not always used. Opinions differ on exactly when it should, or need not, be
used (see also examples above).
That is, a 42-sided figure would be named as follows:
Tens

and Ones final suffix full polygon name

tetraconta- -kai- -di-

-gon

tetracontakaidigon

and a 50-sided figure

Tens

and Ones final suffix full polygon name

pentaconta-

-gon

pentacontagon

But beyond enneagons and decagons, professional mathematicians prefer the

aforementioned numeral notation (for example, MathWorld has articles on 17-gons and
257-gons).

Polygons in nature

The Giant's Causeway, in Ireland

Numerous regular polygons may be seen in nature. In the world of minerals, crystals
often have faces which are triangular, square or hexagonal. Quasicrystals can even have
regular pentagons as faces. Another fascinating example of regular polygons occurs when
the cooling of lava forms areas of tightly packed hexagonal columns of basalt, which may
be seen at the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, or at the Devil's Postpile in California.

Starfruit, a popular fruit in Southeast Asia

The most famous hexagons in nature are found in the animal kingdom. The wax
honeycomb made by bees is an array of hexagons used to store honey and pollen, and as
a secure place for the larvae to grow. There also exist animals who themselves take the
approximate form of regular polygons, or at least have the same symmetry. For example,
starfish display the symmetry of a pentagon or, less frequently, the heptagon or other
polygons. Other echinoderms, such as sea urchins, sometimes display similar symmetries.
Though echinoderms do not exhibit exact radial symmetry, jellyfish and comb jellies do,
usually fourfold or eightfold.
Radial symmetry (and other symmetry) is also widely observed in the plant kingdom,
particularly amongst flowers, and (to a lesser extent) seeds and fruit, the most common
form of such symmetry being pentagonal. A particularly striking example is the Starfruit,
a slightly tangy fruit popular in Southeast Asia, whose cross-section is shaped like a
pentagonal star.
Moving off the earth into space, early mathematicians doing calculations using Newton's
law of gravitation discovered that if two bodies (such as the sun and the earth) are
orbiting one another, there exist certain points in space, called Lagrangian points, where a
smaller body (such as an asteroid or a space station) will remain in a stable orbit. The
sun-earth system has five Lagrangian points. The two most stable are exactly 60 degrees
ahead and behind the earth in its orbit; that is, joining the centre of the sun and the earth
and one of these stable Lagrangian points forms an equilateral triangle. Astronomers have
already found asteroids at these points. It is still debated whether it is practical to keep a
space station at the Lagrangian point although it would never need course corrections,
it would have to frequently dodge the asteroids that are already present there. There are
already satellites and space observatories at the less stable Lagrangian points.

Things to do with polygons

Cut up a piece of paper into polygons, and put them back together as a tangram.
Join many edge-to-edge as a tiling or tessellation.
Join several edge-to-edge and fold them all up so there are no gaps, to make a
three-dimensional polyhedron.
Join many edge-to-edge, folding them into a crinkly thing called an infinite
polyhedron.
Use computer-generated polygons to build up a three-dimensional world full of
monsters, theme parks, aeroplanes or anything - see Polygons in computer
graphics below..