Equilateral and Equiangular Polygons

A polygon is a 2 dimensional geometric figure bound with straight sides. A polygon is called Equilateral if all of its sides are congruent. Common examples of equilateral polygons are a rhombus and regular polygons such as equilateral triangles and squares.  Now, a polygon is equiangular if all of its internal angles are congruent.  Some important facts to consider The only equiangular triangle is the equilateral triangle If P is an equilateral polygon that has more than three sides, it does not have to be equiangular. A rhombus with no right angle is an example of an equilateral but non-equiangular polygon.  Rectangles, including squares, are the only equiangular quadrilaterals Equiangular polygon theorem. Each angle of an equiangular n-gon is  $$\Bigg(\frac{n-2}{n}\Bigg)180^{\circ} = 180^{\circ} -   \frac{360^{\circ}}{n} $$ Viviani's theorem   Vincenzo Viviani (1622 – 1703) was a famous Italian mathematician. With his exceptional intelligence in math...

Middle School Competition Problem

Let $ABCD$ be a convex quadrilateral with $AB=BC=AC$. Suppose that a point P lies in the interior of the quadrilateral such that $AD=AP=DP$ and $\angle PCD=30^{\circ}$. Given that $CP=2$ and $CD=3$, find that length of $AC$. 

The first step in solving this question is to draw the segment $PB$. Doing this allows us to see that $\triangle APB \cong \triangle ADC$ because $AP=AD$, $AB=AC$, and $\angle DAC = \angle PAB$ because $\angle DAP = \angle CAB = 60^{\circ}$. Thus, $PB=3$. 

Next, let's set $\angle ACD = x$. We see that $\angle PCA = 30-x$, and $\angle BCP = 30 +x$. Due to the triangle congruency we established earlier, $\angle PBA = x$ as well. This means that we can write $\angle PBC = 60 - x$. Now, 
$$\angle CPB = 180^{\circ} - \angle BCP - \angle PBC = 180^{\circ} - (30+x) - (60-x) = 90^{\circ}$$. 

Thus, $\triangle BPC$ is a right triangle, and we know that $CP=2$ and $PB=3$, so we can easily find $CB$ to be 
$$CB = \sqrt{2^2+3^2} = \boxed{\sqrt{13}}$$


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Equilateral and Equiangular Polygons

Irrational Numbers

Incenter/Excenter Lemma