Heptagon Heptagon

Heptagon - Definition and Overview

A heptagon is a plane figure with seven sides and seven angles. In a regular heptagon, in which all sides and all angles are equal, the sides meet at an angle of approximately 129.6 degrees. Its Schläfli symbol is {7}. The area of a regular heptagon of side length a is given by

<math>A = \frac{7}{4}a^2 \cot \frac{\pi}{7} \simeq 3.63391 a^2.<math>

The United Kingdom currently (2003) has two heptagonal coins, the 50p and 20p pieces. Strictly, the shape of the coins is a curvilinear heptagon: the sides are curved outwards so that the coin will roll smoothly in vending machines.

The heptagon is also commonly referred to as the septagon as the sept- prefix indicates seven in Latin, in contrast to hept-, which is Greek.

See also

Copyright 2009 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy  :: Terms of Use  :: Contact Us  :: About Us
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the this Wikipedia article.