Areas of Regular Polygons

Section 11.2

Aim-1/24/14
How do we find the area of an equilateral triangle? How do we find the area of regular polygons? Check homework.

Activator

Use the figure to find each measure.

AC mA mADB DB

10 cm

10 cm; 60; 30; 5 3 cm

Theorem: Area of an Equilateral Triangle

The area of an equilateral triangle is one fourth the square of the length of the side times 3 .
1 A 3 s2 4

Example 1

Find the area of an equilateral triangle with 8 inch sides.

1 A 3 s2 4 1 A 3 (8)2 4

1 A (64) 3 4 A 16 3 in2

A 27.71in2

Checkpoint 1

Find the area of an equilateral triangle with 10 cm sides.

1 A 3 s2 4 1 A 3 (10)2 4

1 A (100) 3 4 A 25 3 cm2

A 43.30 cm2

Important Terms
center of the polygon the center of its circumscribed circle radius of the polygon the radius of its circumscribed circle apothem of the polygon the distance from the center to any side of the polygon Lets look at a diagram..

Diagram of Important Terms

center of polygon F
A

radii

apothem
D C

Definition

Central Angle of a Regular Polygon an angle whose vertex is the center and whose sides contain two consecutive vertices of the polygon. central angle

To find the measure of a central angle divide 360 by the number of sides.

Summarizer

An equilateral triangle has an area of 9 3 cm2 . 4 What is its side length?

3 cm

Presentations!
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