Polygons

By Muralle

Polygons

A polygon is a closed figure made by joining line segments, where each line segment
intersects exactly two others.

Regular Polygon

A regular polygon is a polygon whose sides are all the same length, and whose angles are
all the same.

Here are pictures of all the regular polygons:

So, a regular triangle is called an equilateral triangle and a regular quadrilateral is

called a square.

To remember equilateral - lateral thinking means "sideways thinking" and equi is used in
the start of words for some thing meaning equal (e.g. equi-distant, equi-valent etc.) so
equilateral simply means equal sided - this may help.

Irregular polygons (all sides and interior angles are not equal)
• interior and exterior angles of a polygon are supplementary
- b and x are interior angles
- a and y are exterior angles
 exterior angle
- a + b = 180o
- x + y = 180o

y
b x
a
interior angle

• sum of exterior angles of a polygon = 360o

b
c
a

f
a

a + b + c + d + e + f = 360o

• the sum of the interior angles = (n – 2) × 180o (n = number of sides of

polygons)

2
1 3

• = the sum of angles of all triangles formed.

• The sum of interior angles of a polygon with n sides, where n is 3 or more, is
180° × (n - 2) degrees.
• The sum of interior angles (Hexagon) = 4 x 180o
= 720o
= (6 – 2) x 180o
= 720o
 ( n −2) ×180 0
• interior angle of a regular polygon = (n = number of sides of
n
polygons)
360 0
• exterior angle of a regular polygon = (n = number of sides of polygons)
n

Polygons Exterior Angle Interior Angle Sum of interior angles

Equilateral triangle 120o 60o 180o
Square 90o 90o 360o
Pentagon 72o 108o 540o
Hexagon 60o 120o 720o
Heptagon 51.43o 128.57o 900o
Octagon 45o 135o 1 080o
Nonagon 40o 140o 1 260o
Decagon 36o 144o 1 440o
0
360
• number of sides of a regular polygon = exterior angle
or
360 0
• number of sides of a regular polygon =
180 0 − interior angle

Easy Ways to Calculate Polygon angles

Interior Angles

The quadrilateral below has been split into 2 triangles with the red line.

If we have 2 triangles making up this shape, the sum (total) of the interior angles = 2 x
180 = 360o.

The same trick applies to other polygons, for example:

Here the sum of the interior angles = 3 x 180 = 540o.

Using the shorthand letter n to represent the number of sides we get the formula:

Sum of interior angles = (n - 2) x 180.

Example 1
Calculate the number of sides of a regular polygon has interior angle 172o

Solution
360 0
number of sides =
180 0 − interior angle
360 0
=
180 0 − 172 0

= 45

Therefore, the number of sides = 45

Test yourself

1. In the diagram above, KLMNPQRS is a regular polygon and KST is a

straight line. The value of y is
A. 30o
B. 45o
 C. 80o
D. 135o

2. Determine the value of x in the following diagram.

3x
2x

4x

A. 20o
B. 30o
C. 40o
D. 50o

3. Determine the value of y in the following diagram.

o
131o
87 66o

A. 25o
B. 45o
C. 55o
D. 65o

4. Find the value of y

2y 130o

100o

3y

A. 34o
B. 44o
C. 54o
D. 64o

5. In Figure below ABC and CDE are straight lines. Calculate the value of y

E
115˚
F
D

y
135˚
125˚ C
A B
A.125o
B. 145o
C. 168o
D. 172o

6. In diagram above, PQL, RQM and KLM are straight lines. Find the value of e
+ f + g + h.
A.150o
B. 290o
C. 390o
D. 440o

7. SQR is an isosceles triangle. Find the value of Q.

A.5o
B. 55o
C. 80o
D. 110o

8. The diagram shows a pentagon. The value of x is

A.50o
B. 55o
C. 60o
D. 110o

9. Based on the diagram above, find the values of x and y.

A. x = 62o , y = 34o
B. x = 118o , y = 34o
C. x = 242o , y = 25o
D. x = 242o , y = 34o
 10. Find the value of 2x
A. 106o
B. 119o
C. 238o
D. 239o
Answers
1. B
2. A
3. D
4. B
5. A
6. C
7. A
8. A
9. C
10. C