Law of Sines in Polygon Construction - Goals & Benefits

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the application of the Law of Sines in polygon construction, specifically in approximating the area of a circle using regular polygons. The author demonstrates Archimedes' method by dividing the polygon into n isosceles triangles, where the area is calculated using the formula "1/2 base times height." The Law of Sines is employed to determine the base length of these triangles, with the vertex angle calculated as $\frac{2\pi}{n}$ and the base angles as $\frac{(n-2)\pi}{2n}$. This method illustrates how increasing the number of sides enhances the approximation of the circle's area.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of the Law of Sines in trigonometry
  • Basic knowledge of polygon geometry
  • Familiarity with Archimedes' methods in mathematics
  • Concept of isosceles triangles and their properties
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore the derivation of the Law of Sines in various triangle types
  • Study Archimedes' methods for calculating areas of geometric shapes
  • Investigate the relationship between the number of polygon sides and approximation accuracy
  • Learn about the properties of isosceles triangles in depth
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Mathematicians, geometry enthusiasts, educators teaching trigonometry, and students studying polygonal approximations of circles.

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As the author says in the first paragraph, his goal is to demonstrate Archimedes' method of calculating the area of a circle. He does that by noting that a circle can be approximated by a regular polygon with "n" sides, all vertices on that circle- and the more sides you take, the better the approximation. He calculates the area of the polygon by drawing lines from the center of the circle to each vertex, dividing the polygon into n isosceles triangles. The area of a triangle is "1/2 base times height". In this case, the base of each triangle is the side of the polygon while height is the distance from the center of the circle to the center of the base. For n large, so that each triangle is very "skinny", that is approximately the length of the two equal sides of the triangle, the radius of the circle.

He specifically uses the sine law to calculate the length of the base. Dividing the $2\pi$ radians of a complete circle by n, the vertex angle of each triangle, at the center of the circle, is $\frac{2\pi}{n}$. Since the three angles of any triangle sum to $\pi$ radians, and the two base angles are equal, they are each $\frac{\pi- \frac{2\pi}{n}}{2}= \frac{(n-2)\pi}{2n}$.
 
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