How many regular polygons satisfy the property that all their angles have an integer number of degrees in magnitude?
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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 , then N has d ( N ) = ( q 1 + 1 ) ( q 2 + 1 ) ⋯ ( q n + 1 ) divisors.
In our case 3 6 0 = 2 3 ∗ 3 2 ∗ 5 ⇒ d ( 3 6 0 ) = ( 3 + 1 ) ( 2 + 1 ) ( 1 + 1 ) = 2 4 . For our purpose we exclude numbers 1 , 2 from the list as polygons can not be formed with that many sides. The result is 2 4 − 2 = 2 2 .
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!
Good approach. Note that in the final line, it should be 2 4 − 2 .
Each exterior angle of an regular polygon is 3 6 0 / n degrees, and since interior angle + exterior angle = 1 8 0 º , each interior angle is 1 8 0 º − 3 6 0 º / n . This is an integer only if 3 6 0 / n is, so the problem reduces to finding the number of divisors of 3 6 0 = 2 3 ⋅ 3 2 ⋅ 5 , which is ( 3 + 1 ) ( 2 + 1 ) ( 1 + 1 ) = 2 4 . However, since a polygon cannot have 1 or 2 sides, there are only 2 4 − 2 = 2 2 valid regular polygons.
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We have;
Angle sum of a regular polygon with n sides = ( n − 2 ) ( 1 8 0 )
Since, all angles of a regular polygon are equal hence;
Each angle = n ( n − 2 ) ( 1 8 0 )
The above fraction reduces to:
1 8 0 − n 3 6 0
Hence; the angles are integral for all factors of 3 6 0 which are 2 4 in number = ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 , 9 , 1 0 , 1 2 , 1 5 , 1 8 , 2 0 , 2 4 , 3 0 , 3 6 , 4 0 , 4 5 , 6 0 , 7 2 , 9 0 , 1 2 0 , 1 8 0 , 3 6 0 .
So; the fraction is reduced to an integer for these 2 4 values but we must note that n cant be 1 or 2 since that wont make a polygon.
Hence; number of polygons = 2 4 − 2 = 2 2
Note that all angles are in degrees