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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from Larry: I am cutting a piece of carpet that is 9 feet x 9 feet and need to cut it into an octagon. How far do I cut from the corner of the square. thank you for any help. |
Larry,
Look at what Stephen did for a similar question. He showed that the side length x and the width w of a regular octagon are related by x = 0.4142 w. You have a width of 9 feet but you probably want to convert it to inches for your measurement (9 feet = 12 × 9 = 108 inches). The amount you cut off each corner (y in Stephens diagram) is then y = (w - x)/2.
I hope this helps,
Harley
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