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Polygons

A polygon is any closed shape made of straight sides. The names go up by Greek prefixes — and the angles obey one neat formula.

Polygon explorer

Slide the side count and watch every angle update.

n = 6 · Hexagon
6

Interior angle sum

720°

(n−2) × 180

Each interior angle

120.0°

sum / n

Each exterior angle

60.0°

360 / n

Diagonals

9

n(n−3)/2

Naming polygons

  • 3 sides — triangle
  • 4 sides — quadrilateral
  • 5 sides — pentagon
  • 6 sides — hexagon
  • 7 sides — heptagon
  • 8 sides — octagon
  • 10 sides — decagon
  • 12 sides — dodecagon
  • n sides — n-gon

Regular vs irregular

A regular polygon has every side the same length and every angle the same size. A regular triangle is equilateral. A regular quadrilateral is a square. Anything else is irregular.

Sum of interior angles

For any polygon: (n − 2) × 180°. So a pentagon's angles sum to 540°, a hexagon's to 720°.

Convex vs concave

A convex polygon has every interior angle less than 180°. A concave (or non-convex) polygon has at least one reflex angle — it caves in.

Diagonals

A diagonal joins two non-adjacent vertices. For an n-gon there are n(n − 3) / 2 of them. A pentagon has 5, a hexagon has 9, a decagon has 35.