Filter
Top Products
Activities 73
Computing Areas of Regular N-Sided Polygons
Problem
Use the equation solver to store a formula for the area of a regular
N-sided polygon, and then solve for each variable, given the other
variables. Explore the fact that the limiting case is the area of a circle, pr
2
.
Consider the formula A = NB
2
sin(pàN) cos(pàN) for the area of a regular
polygon with N sides of equal length and B distance from the center to a
vertex.
Procedure
1. Press 0 to select 0:Solver from the MATH menu. Either the
equation editor or the interactive solver editor is displayed. If the
interactive solver editor is displayed, press } to display the equation
editor.
2. Enter the formula as 0=ANNB
2
sin(p / N)cos(p / N), and then press
Í. The interactive solver editor is displayed.
3. Enter
N=4 and B=6 to find the area (A) of a square with a distance
(B) from center to vertex of 6 centimeters.
N = 4 sides
N = 8 sides
N = 12 sides