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Geometry Level 5

The diagram above shows a Reuleaux septagon drawn from a regular septagon with circumradius 1, where arc A 1 A 2 A_1 A_2 is drawn from center A 5 A_5 , arc A 2 A 3 A_2 A_3 is drawn from center A 6 A_6 , arc A 3 A 4 A_3 A_4 is drawn from center A 7 A_7 , and so on.

Find the area of the Reuleaux septagon to 5 decimal places.

Bonus : Generalize this for all Reuleaux n n -gon where n n is an odd number.


Inspiration

You may want to read up Reuleaux triangle first.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Reuleaux polygons by LEMeZza


The answer is 2.93488.

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2 solutions

Dj Foster
Apr 4, 2015

A 1 O A 2 = 2 π 7 \angle A_1OA_2 = \frac{2\pi}{7}

A 1 A 5 A 2 = π 7 \angle A_1A_5A_2 = \frac {\pi}{7}

A 1 O A 2 = π 14 \angle A_1OA_2 = \frac {\pi}{14}

A 1 O A 5 = 6 π 7 \angle A_1OA_5 = \frac {6\pi}{7}

Area triangle A 1 O A 5 = 1 2 sin 6 π 7 A_1OA_5 = \frac {1}{2} \sin \frac {6\pi}{7}

Length A 1 A 5 = sin 6 π 7 sin π 14 A_1A_5 = \frac {\sin \frac {6\pi}{7}}{\sin \frac{\pi}{14}}

Area sector A 1 A 5 A 2 A_1A_5A_2 = 1 2 A 1 A 5 A 2 × ( A 1 A 5 ) 2 \frac {1}{2} \angle A_1A_5A_2 \times (A_1A_5)^2

Area bounded by radii O A 1 , O A 2 OA_1, OA_2 and arclength A 1 A 2 A_1A_2 = Area sector A 1 A 5 A 2 A_1A_5A_2 - 2 Area triangle A 1 O A 5 A_1OA_5

= π 14 \frac{\pi}{14} sin 2 6 π 7 ÷ sin 2 π 14 \sin^2\frac{6\pi}{7} \div \sin^2\frac{\pi}{14} - sin 6 π 7 \sin\frac{6\pi}{7}

Area Reuleaux heptagon is 7 × \times this =2.93488

Check: upper bound π \pi , Lower bound 7 2 sin 2 π 7 \frac {7}{2}\sin \frac{2\pi}{7} =2.73641

Similarly for odd Reuleaux n-gon

Area n-gon
= π 2 n sin 2 ( n 1 ) π n ÷ sin 2 π 2 n sin ( n 1 ) π n \frac{\pi}{2n}\sin^2 \frac{(n-1)\pi}{n} \div \sin^2\frac{\pi}{2n} - \sin\frac{(n-1)\pi}{n}

Sorry about the clunkiness of the typesetting ; I'm a 46 year old LaTeX virgin (no sniggering at the back there). Next time I'll just upload a photo.

<A1:O:A2 has two values.

Bernardo Picão - 2 years, 5 months ago

Area of Reuleaux n n -gon, when n n is an odd positive integer, when R R is the circumradius of associated regular n n -gon,

1 2 n R 2 ( sin 2 π n + 4 ( π 2 n sin π 2 n ) × cos 2 π 2 n ) \frac{1}{2}nR^2 \left( \sin{\frac{2\pi}{n}} + 4\left( \frac{\pi}{2n} - \sin{\frac{\pi}{2n}} \right) \times \cos^2{\frac{\pi}{2n}} \right)

Further algebraic simplification may be possible.

Wow, I lost my original working for the "Bonus" question, but I think this expression looks correct.

Pi Han Goh - 3 years, 5 months ago

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Thank you!

Muhammad Rasel Parvej - 3 years, 5 months ago

Ya it is correct and the most appropriate method.

D K - 2 years, 10 months ago

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