Integer angles

Geometry Level 4

How many regular polygons satisfy the property that all their angles have an integer number of degrees in magnitude?


The answer is 22.

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

3 solutions

Yatin Khanna
Nov 16, 2016

We have;
Angle sum of a regular polygon with n n sides = ( n 2 ) ( 180 ) = (n-2)(180)
Since, all angles of a regular polygon are equal hence;
Each angle = ( n 2 ) ( 180 ) n \frac{(n-2)(180)}{n}
The above fraction reduces to:
180 360 n 180 - \frac {360}{n}
Hence; the angles are integral for all factors of 360 360 which are 24 24 in number = ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 15 , 18 , 20 , 24 , 30 , 36 , 40 , 45 , 60 , 72 , 90 , 120 , 180 , 360 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, 45, 60, 72, 90, 120, 180, 360 .


So; the fraction is reduced to an integer for these 24 24 values but we must note that n n cant be 1 1 or 2 2 since that wont make a polygon.

Hence; number of polygons = 24 2 = 22 = 24 - 2 = \boxed {22}

Note that all angles are in degrees

Even i did the same way....+1

Ayush G Rai - 4 years, 7 months ago

Good approach!

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 6 months ago
Maria Kozlowska
Nov 16, 2016

Number of divisors of a number 360 can be computed easily using the following theorem:

If N = p 1 q 1 p 2 q 2 p n q n N = p_1 ^{q_1} p_2^{q_2} \ldots p_n ^ {q_n} , then N N has d ( N ) = ( q 1 + 1 ) ( q 2 + 1 ) ( q n + 1 ) d(N) = (q_1 +1) (q_2 +1) \cdots (q_n + 1) divisors.

In our case 360 = 2 3 3 2 5 d ( 360 ) = ( 3 + 1 ) ( 2 + 1 ) ( 1 + 1 ) = 24 360=2^3*3^2*5 \Rightarrow d(360)=(3+1)(2+1)(1+1)=24 . For our purpose we exclude numbers 1 , 2 1 , 2 from the list as polygons can not be formed with that many sides. The result is 24 2 = 22 24-2=\boxed{22} .

i love the fact that you have used that theorem

many other solutions just show the factors of 360 and then count them

but yours is a good solution it's not tedious and very easy to understand

great solution!

A Former Brilliant Member - 4 years, 7 months ago

Good approach. Note that in the final line, it should be 24 2 24 - 2 .

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 6 months ago

Log in to reply

Corrected. Thanks.

Maria Kozlowska - 4 years, 6 months ago
Toby M
Jan 22, 2021

Each exterior angle of an regular polygon is 360 / n 360/n degrees, and since interior angle + exterior angle = 180 º 180º , each interior angle is 180 º 360 º / n 180º - 360º/n . This is an integer only if 360 / n 360/n is, so the problem reduces to finding the number of divisors of 360 = 2 3 3 2 5 360 = 2^3 \cdot 3^2 \cdot 5 , which is ( 3 + 1 ) ( 2 + 1 ) ( 1 + 1 ) = 24 (3+1)(2+1)(1+1) = 24 . However, since a polygon cannot have 1 1 or 2 2 sides, there are only 24 2 = 22 24 - 2 = \boxed{22} valid regular polygons.

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...