How Many Sides Of Square

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Learn how to identify and name polygons based on how many sides they have. — Larn how to place and name polygons based on how many sides they have.

Ashkan Forouzani via Unsplash; Canva

An Introduction to Polygons

When information technology comes to learning shapes, it's actually helpful to know how many sides each one has. Not only volition knowing this vital piece of data help y'all with shape recognition, but it tin also make you wait pretty smart! In this commodity, we'll start with the most basic polygonal shapes and work our style up to the more than complicated ones you lot likely oasis't heard of before!

Too included (at the bottom of this article) is an piece of cake reference table that lists all polygons with sides numbering 3 to 30.

Triangle: three Sides

The triangle is a very distinctive shape, just ever consisting of three sides connected together. If you ever come across a shape that has three sides, it cannot be annihilation else just a triangle. Some things that are shaped like a triangle are a yield sign, a wedge, a side of a pyramid, a pool game rack, and of form, the triangle instrument.

The proper name triangle literally means three angles. Someday you come across the prefix "tri," you should call back "three." The triceratops was a dinosaur with iii horns, a tricycle is a bike with three wheels, and a trio is a group of three people.

Quadrilateral (Square, Rectangle): iv Sides

A quadrilateral is whatsoever polygon with four sides. A square is a quadrilateral and a parallelogram that has four equal sides that come together at right angles. If the sides are not the same size and/or are not parallel, then it is not a foursquare! Examples of common items that are ofttimes foursquare include baking pans, couch pillows, patio tables, and ottomans. Please note that these items tin also be rectangles! Calculation to that, a square is considered a rectangle, but a rectangle tin never be a square. Sad, I know.

A rectangle is also a parallelogram with iv sides coming together at correct angles, merely unlike the square, two of its sides are longer than the other 2. Because of this, the shape has an elongated wait when compared to a square. Even if i pair of sides is just slightly longer than the pair in a quadrilateral, it is yet considered a rectangle and not a square. Oftentimes, dinner tables, sports fields, the perimeters of basic houses, picture frames, and books are rectangular

Pentagon: 5 Sides

A pentagon is any polygon that has five sides. The simple pentagon has 5 equal sides that join to their neighboring sides at equal angles. A concave pentagon is made with ii of the sides pointing in to form a v-shaped point toward the other sides rather than pointing out in a convex style. A pentagram is an example of a self-intersecting pentagon, equally information technology is fabricated of five lines, simply they cantankerous over one another to form a star shape. A popular example of the basic pentagon shape is the Pentagon, a governmental building in Washington, D.C.

Hexagon: 6 Sides

A hexagon has half-dozen sides and vi vertices, or points. The interior angles of a hexagon add together up to 720 degrees. The almost common hexagon is the regular hexagon, in which all of the sides are the same length. Perhaps the nearly recognizable hexagon-shaped detail in life is a common piece of hardware known as a nut. Zebra cakes are also shaped like hexagons, and the Star of David is considered a self-intersecting hexagon.

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Octagon: 8 Sides

Octagons have eight sides. A regular octagon is a shape consisting of eight even sides in which the interior angles add upward to 1080 degrees. Chances are y'all've seen many stop signs in your mean solar day, which means you've seen an octagon before your very eyes! If yous are a fan of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), so you are probably aware that participants in the sport fight in an octagon-shaped ring. The prefix "oct" refers to the number eight, and then it makes sense that an octopus has viii tentacles and an octet is a grouping of viii.

Decagon: 10 Sides

Decagons have 10 sides, and in regular decagons, all of the sides are of fifty-fifty lengths. Although not normally thought of as a decagon, the perimeter of a five-pointed star is technically a decagon. The Gonbad-eastward Qabus tower in Islamic republic of iran is a well-known edifice that has this shape. Information technology likewise makes use of the golden ratio and has stood for over 1,000 years! Or 100 dec-ades! See what I did there? The prefix of dec usually denotes the number 10, such equally decagon (10 sides), decade (10 years), decaliter (10 liters), or deciliter (one/10th of a liter).

Dodecagon: 12 Sides

Not to exist confused with a decagon, a dodecagon has just two more sides for a total of 12. 12 sides and 12 angles make this shape unique from the others. Every bit you tin can see, the proper name is very similar to "decagon" which has 10 sides. The "do" prefix but means add together 2 to x which gives you 12. Pretty easy, right? That means a tridecagon would have how many sides? "Tri" means 3 and "dec" means 10, then a tridecagon would have 13 sides.

Triacontagons have 30 sides—so many that at first glance, they look like circles. — Triacontagons have xxx sides—then many that at showtime glance, they look similar circles.

Ashkan Forouzani via Unsplash; Canva

Triacontagon: 30 Sides

I'grand going to skip ahead now to the 30-sided figure called the triacontagon because at this indicate, it near begins to wait similar a circle! Observe the "tri" (pregnant three) in the beginning of the name, which helps indicate the number of sides to the effigy.

While information technology is a bit more of an advanced subject, as you approach an space number of sides, the shape begins to look more and more than like a circle. In fact, computers can't actually draw a truthful circle. They draw what looks like a circumvolve merely is actually merely a polygon. Don't believe me? Just zoom in a bunch on a circle yous see on your screen, and chances are, y'all'll see a very crude-looking shape once you go in close enough.

How Practice Shape Names Work?

Yous may recall some of these harder shapes from geometry form. Regardless, now you have been schooled and/or refreshed in the topic!

Below is a table that makes looking up a shape's name and the number of sides it has really simple. You tin as well see the blueprint in how the names are made, and you can probably beginning to figure out what the names of certain polygons are without ever having to look them up.

One of import thing to know—rather than committing all of these names to memory, information technology is acceptable to apply the shorthand. Many mathematicians will refer to polygons with a lot of sides using the "n-gon" autograph, where "n" is the number of sides. Then, y'all tin call a polygon with xiii sides can be called a 13-gon instead of a tridecagon, and people won't look at you funny (or if they do, it will exist because they have no idea what you're talking about.

Shapes and Number of Sides


Shape Proper name	Number of Sides
Triangle	iii
Quadrilateral	four
Pentagon	5
Hexagon	6
Heptagon	7
Octagon	viii
Enneagon	9
Decagon	10
Hendecagon	xi
Dodecagon	12
Triskaidecagon	13
Tetrakaidecagon	14
Pendedecagon	15
Hexdecagon	16
Heptadecagon	17
Octdecagon	18
Enneadecagon	19
Icosagon	20
Icosihenagon	21
Icosidiagon	22
Icositriagon	23
Icositetragon	24
Icosipentagon	25
Icosihexagon	26
Icosiheptagon	27
Icosioctagon	28
Icosienneagon	29
Triacontagon	xxx

This content is accurate and truthful to the best of the writer's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

poetryman6969 on February 07, 2015:

I think there was a story that a famous artist drew a perfect circumvolve free paw. The notion being that perfection in annihilation is potent bulletin. Some would go so far as to say if we ever run into an alien race and their outset deed to hand us something made at a level of perfection that is beyond us, we are in a lot of trouble.