Name: ed
Who is asking: Other
Level of the question: All

Question: I would like to know how to find a side segment of an octagon when I know that my octagon is 9 feet from side to side and top to bottom?

 
Hi Ed.

The short answer is , where w is the side-to-side width and x is the length of a segment.

We have a nifty little search utility you can use here:
mathcentral.uregina.ca/QQ/QQsearch.html
(A simplified version is on the home page of our site)

If you search on "octagon", you will see my response to Martin, which is titled Making a wooden octagon. On that page, you will see how I've come up with this formula.

Cheers,
Stephen La Rocque.