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KidsMath
Polygons
Apolygonisaflatfigurethatismadeupofstraightlinesandisenclosed.
Afewnotesonthedefinitionofapolygonthathopefullywillhelpyouremember:
Flatthismeansit'saplanefigureortwodimensional
Straightlinesthesearecalledsegmentsingeometry
Enclosedallthelinesfitendtoendandformafigurewithnoopenings.
Moreonwhatenclosedmeans:
Thefollowingfiguresarenotenclosedandarenotpolygons:

Thefollowingfiguresareenclosedandarepolygons:

TypesofPolygons
Therearealotoftypesofpolygons.Someyou'veprobablyheardofbeforelikesquares,triangles,and
rectangles.We'lllearnmoreabouttheseandothers.Polygonsarenamedforthenumberofsidestheyhave.Here
isalistofpolygonnamesdependingonthenumberofsidestheyhave,startingwiththreeandendingwithten.
3sidesTriangle
4sidesQuadrilateral
5sidesPentagon
6sidesHexagon
7sidesHeptagon
8sidesOctagon
9sidesNonagon
10sidesDecagon
Thereare,ofcourse,polygonswithmanymorenamesandsides.Whenthenumberofsidesgetsreallyhigh,
mathematicianssometimesusethenumberofsides"n"andcallitanngon.Forexampleifapolygonhas41sides,
itwouldbecalleda41gon.
ConvexorConcavePolygons
Apolygoniseitherconvexorconcave.It'sconvexifanylinedrawnthroughitintersectsonlytwootherlines.If
anylinedrawnthroughthepolygoncanhitmorethantwootherlines,thenit'sconcave.
Examples:

Concave

Convex

Inaconvexpolygon,everyangleislessthan180degrees.Inaconcavethereisatleastoneanglegreaterthan
180degrees.
SimpleandComplexPolygons
Inasimplepolygonthelinesdon'tintersect.Inacomplexpolygonthelinesintersect.
Examples:

Complex

Simple

RegularPolygons
Aregularpolygonhaslinesthatareallthesamelengthanditalsohasallthesameangles.
Examples:
Regular:

Notregular:

MoreGeometrySubjects
Circle
Polygons
Quadrilaterals
Triangles
PythagoreanTheorem
Perimeter
Slope
SurfaceArea
VolumeofaBoxorCube
VolumeandSurfaceAreaofaSphere
VolumeandSurfaceAreaofaCylinder

VolumeandSurfaceAreaofaCone
Anglesglossary
FiguresandShapesglossary

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