 |
| ||
| |||
|
| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
|
Question from Levan: This was the closest to what I am trying to solve. So in the answer linked, we figure out what is "c". But what if we know "c" and want to find out "n" based on specific "r=1". It might be simple math, but I have not had any relationship with math for 20 years now |
Hi Levan,
I am unclear as to what you want to do. It looks to me that you want to inscribe a regular polygon with side length $c$ into a circle of radius $r$ and your problem is to determine the number of sides, $n$ of the resulting polygon. On our page that you quote Stephen developed the expression
\[c^2 = r^2 \left( 2 - 2 \cos \left( \frac{360^o}{n}\right) \right)\]
which he then solved for $c.$ You want to solve this expression for $n.$
Is this what you want? The difficulty I am having is that for $n$ to be a whole number only certain values of $c$ and $r$ are possible.
Penny
| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
 |
|
Math Central is supported by the University of Regina and The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.