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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Hexagons
How many diagonals are there in a regular hexagon?
A diagonal is a line segment joining two non-adjacent vertices of a polygon. A regular hexagon has six sides and six vertices. One vertex has three diagonals, so a hexagon would have three diagonals times six vertices, or 18 diagonals. Divide this number by 2 to account for duplicate diagonals between two vertices. The formula for the number of vertices in a polygon is:
where .
Example Question #12 : Geometry
How many diagonals are there in a regular hexagon?
10
9
3
6
18
9
A diagonal connects two non-consecutive vertices of a polygon. A hexagon has six sides. There are 3 diagonals from a single vertex, and there are 6 vertices on a hexagon, which suggests there would be 18 diagonals in a hexagon. However, we must divide by two as half of the diagonals are common to the same vertices. Thus there are 9 unique diagonals in a hexagon. The formula for the number of diagonals of a polygon is:
where n = the number of sides in the polygon.
Thus a pentagon thas 5 diagonals. An octagon has 20 diagonals.
Example Question #2 : Hexagons
Hexagon is a regular hexagon with sides of length 10. is the midpoint of . To the nearest tenth, give the length of the segment .
Below is the referenced hexagon, with some additional segments constructed.
Note that the segments and have been constructed. Along with , they form right triangle with hypotenuse .
is the midpoint of , so
.
has been divided by drawing the perpendicular from to the segment and calling the point of intersection . is a 30-60-90 triangle with hypotenuse , short leg , and long leg , so by the 30-60-90 Triangle Theorem,
and
For the same reason, , so
By the Pythagorean Theorem,
when rounded to the nearest tenth.
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