Lesson 3

Discover

 

A polygon is a closed figure made up of three or more straight line segments. What do you think a regular polygon is? In Try This 1, you will explore the idea of regular polygons.

 

Try This 1

 

Use Regular Polygons to complete the questions shown here.

 

1. Complete a table like the one shown.
   
   

   Number of Sides	Name	Are all sides of equal length?	Are all interior angles equal?	Are any lines parallel?	How many lines of symmetry are there?
   5
   6
   7
   8
   9
   10
   11
   12

2. All shapes used in the applet were regular polygons. In previous lessons you studied equilateral triangles and squares, which are both regular polygons. What do you think is the definition of a regular polygon?
3. When do regular polygons have parallel sides? When do regular polygons not have parallel sides?
4. What do you notice about the shape of a polygon as the number of sides increases?

Save your responses in your course folder.