What Is a Regular Polygon?
A regular polygon is a closed plane figure with all sides of equal length and all interior angles of equal measure. Examples include the equilateral triangle (3 sides), square (4 sides), regular pentagon (5 sides), and regular hexagon (6 sides). The more sides a regular polygon has, the more it resembles a circle.
Key Formulas
Area
From side count and side length.
Perimeter
Sum of all sides.
Apothem
Distance from center to midpoint of a side.
Circumradius
Distance from center to a vertex.
Interior Angle
Each angle inside the polygon.
Diagonals
Number of line segments connecting non-adjacent vertices.
Common Regular Polygons
- Equilateral Triangle (n=3): Interior angle 60°, simplest regular polygon.
- Square (n=4): Interior angle 90°, most common in architecture.
- Pentagon (n=5): Interior angle 108°, found in nature (starfish).
- Hexagon (n=6): Interior angle 120°, efficient tiling pattern (honeycombs).
- Octagon (n=8): Interior angle 135°, used for stop signs.
- Decagon (n=10): Interior angle 144°.
- Dodecagon (n=12): Interior angle 150°, used in clock faces.
Relationship Between Apothem and Circumradius
The apothem (a) and circumradius (R) are related by: a = R × cos(π/n). The apothem is always shorter than the circumradius. As the number of sides increases, their ratio approaches 1, and both approach the radius of the limiting circle.