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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...
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Right Triangles

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Let's take a look at right triangles and some of their special properties today. As a quick refresher, a right triangle is a triangle with a right angle. We can call the side opposite the right angle as the  hypotenuse , and the two sides adjacent to the $90^{\circ}$ angle as the  legs . In the image to the right, $AC$ is the hypotenuse, and the two legs are $AB$ and $BC$. Pythagorean Theorem One of the most famous and useful theorems in geometry is the Pythagorean Theorem. The theorem states that in right triangle $\triangle ABC$ with hypotenuse $c$ and legs $a$ and $b$, $$a^2+b^2=c^2$$ Lets apply this in a problem to see how it works.  Problem 1 : Let right triangle $\triangle ABC$ with right angle at $B$ have hypotenuse of $r+1$, and legs of length $7$ and $r$. Find $r$.  Solution:  We know that the sum of the squares of the legs is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. In other words, we have $$7^2 + r^2 = (r+1)^2.$$ Simplifying this a...
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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...
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More Coordinate Geometry

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We have looked at some basics of coordinate geometry. Today, let's look at some intermediate applications of this topic. 1. Shoelace Theorem The Shoelace Theorem is an algorithm used to find the area of a polygon in the coordinate plane when the coordinates are known. If the coordinates are $(x_1, y_1), (x_2, y_2) ... (x_n, y_n), $ $\text{Area}=\frac{1}{2}\Big[(x_1y_2 - x_2y_1)+(x_2y_3 - x_3y_2) + ... + (x_ny_1 - x_1y_n)\Big].$ 2. Centroid The centroid is the point where the three medians intersect. It is also sometimes called the center of gravity for the triangle. Note: A median of a triangle is the line segment joining the vertex to the midpoint of the opposite side. If $(x_1,y_1), (x_2, y_2),$ and $(x_3,y_3)$ are the vertices of a triangle, then the coordinates of its centroid are $$\Bigg(\frac{x_1+x_2+x_3}{3}, \frac{y_1+y_2+y_3}{3} \Bigg).$$ 3. Incenter The incenter is the point where the three angle bisectors intersect. Note: An angle bisector of a triangle...
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Incenter/Excenter Lemma

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Given $\triangle ABC$ with incenter $I$, extend $AI$ to meet the circumcircle of $\triangle ABC$ at $L$. Then, reflect $I$ over $L$, and name this point $I_a$. Then:  $(i)$ $BICI_a$ is a cyclic quadrilateral with point $L$ as the center of the circumscribed circle.  $(ii)$ $BI_a$ and $CI_a$ bisect the exterior angles of $\angle B$ and $\angle C$,  respectively.  Proof $(i)$ Notice that the the question is equivalent to proving the distance from $L$ to points $B, I, C, I_a$ are equal. In other words, we need to show that  $$LB = LI = LC = LI_a$$ Firstly, it is obvious that $LI = LI_a$ because by definition, $I_a$ is the reflection of $I$ over $L$, and reflections preserve the length of the segment.  Now, we are left with proving that $LB=LI$, because similar calculations will provide $LI=LC$.  We see that most of our given information involves angles, so we focus on proving $\angle LBI = \angle LIB$. Firstly,  $$\angle LBC = \angl...
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