Heptagon -- from Wolfram MathWorld
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13,622 entries
Last updated: Thu Jul 27 2017
Created, developed, and
nurtured by Eric Weisstein
at Wolfram Research
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Heptagon.html
7/27/17, 21'36
Geometry > Plane Geometry > Polygons >
Interactive Entries > Interactive Demonstrations > heptagon
Heptagon THINGS TO TRY:
heptagon
1+2+3+...+10
cos x
A heptagon is a seven-sided polygon. It is also sometimes called a septagon, though this usage mixes a Latin prefix
sept- (derived from septua-, meaning "seven") with the Greek suffix -gon (from gonia, meaning "angle"), and is
therefore not recommended.
Albrecht Drer's
Heptagon of 1525
Ralf Schaper
n-gon Polynomials
Ed Pegg Jr
The regular heptagon, illustrated above, has Schlfli symbol . According to Bankoff and Garfunkel (1973), "since
the earliest days of recorded mathematics, the regular heptagon has been virtually relegated to limbo." Nevertheless,
Thbault (1913) discovered many beautiful properties of the heptagon, some of which are discussed by Bankoff and
Garfunkel (1973).
Although the regular heptagon is not a constructible polygon using the classical rules of Greek geometric construction,
it is constructible using a Neusis construction (Johnson 1975; left figure above). To implement the construction, place a
mark on a ruler , and then build a square of side length . Then construct the perpendicular bisector at to
, and draw an arc centered at of radius . Now place the marked ruler so that it passes through , lies on
the arc, and falls on the perpendicular bisector. Then , and two such triangles give the vertex
angle of a regular heptagon. Conway and Guy (1996) give a Neusis construction for the heptagon. In addition,
the regular heptagon can be constructed using seven identical toothpicks to form 1:3:3 triangles (Finlay 1959, Johnson
1975, Wells 1991; right figure above). Bankoff and Garfunkel (1973) discuss the heptagon, including a purported
discovery of the Neusis construction by Archimedes (Heath 1931). Madachy (1979) illustrates how to construct a
heptagon by folding and knotting a strip of paper, and the regular heptagon can also be constructed using a conchoid
of Nicomedes.
Although the regular heptagon is not constructible using classical techniques, Dixon (1991) gives constructions for
several angles very close to . While the angle subtended by a side is , Dixon gives
constructions containing angles of , , and
.
In the regular heptagon with unit circumradius and center , construct the midpoint of and the mid-arc point
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Heptagon -- from Wolfram MathWorld 7/27/17, 21'36

of the arc , and let be the midpoint of . Then (Bankoff and Garfunkel
1973).

In the regular heptagon, construct the points , , and as above. Also construct the midpoint and
construct along the extension of such that . Note that the apothem of the
heptagon has length . Then

1. The length is equal to , and also to the largest root of

(1)

2. , and

3. is tangent to the circumcircle of

(Bankoff and Garfunkel 1973).

Construct a heptagonal triangle in a regular heptagon with center , and let and bisect
and , respectively, with and both lying on the circumcircle. Also define the midpoints , , ,
and . Then

(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

(Bankoff and Garfunkel 1973).

SEE ALSO:
Conchoid of Nicomedes, Edmonds' Map, Heptagon Theorem, Heptagonal Triangle, Neusis Construction, Klein
Quartic, Polygon, Regular Polygon, Trigonometry Angles--Pi/7

REFERENCES:
Aaboe, A. Episodes from the Early History of Mathematics. Washington, DC: Math. Assoc. Amer., 1964.
Bankoff, L. and Demir, H. "Solution to Problem E 1154." Amer. Math. Monthly 62, 584-585, 1955.
Bankoff, L. and Garfunkel, J. "The Heptagonal Triangle." Math. Mag. 46, 7-19, 1973.
Bold, B. Famous Problems of Geometry and How to Solve Them. New York: Dover, pp. 59-60, 1982.
Conway, J. H. and Guy, R. K. The Book of Numbers. New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 194-200, 1996.
Courant, R. and Robbins, H. "The Regular Heptagon." 3.3.4 in What Is Mathematics?: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and
Methods, 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, pp. 138-139, 1996.
Dixon, R. Mathographics. New York: Dover, pp. 35-40, 1991.
Finlay, A. H. "Zig-Zag Paths." Math. Gaz. 43, 199, 1959.
Heath, T. L. A Manual of Greek Mathematics. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, pp. 340-342, 1931.
Johnson, C. "A Construction for a Regular Heptagon." Math. Gaz. 59, 17-21, 1975.
Madachy, J. S. Madachy's Mathematical Recreations. New York: Dover, pp. 59-61, 1979.
Wells, D. The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry. London: Penguin, p. 210, 1991.

CITE THIS AS:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Heptagon." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Heptagon.html

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