Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus - Computing Areas of Regular N-Sided Polygons

Chapter 17: Activities 506
Computing Areas of Regular N-Sided Polygons
Computing Areas of Regular N-Sided PolygonsComputing Areas of Regular N-Sided Polygons
Computing Areas of Regular N-Sided Polygons
Problem
ProblemProblem
Problem
Use the equation solver to store a formula for the area of a regular N-sided polygon, and
then solve for each variable, given the other variables. Explore the fact that the limiting
case is the area of a circle, pr
2
.
Consider the formula A = NB
2
sin(pàN) cos(pàN) for the area of a regular polygon with N
sides of equal length and B distance from the center to a vertex.
Procedure
ProcedureProcedure
Procedure
1. Press 
0 to select 0:Solver from the MATH menu. Either the equation editor or
the interactive solver editor is displayed. If the interactive solver editor is displayed,
press } to display the equation editor.
2. Enter the formula as
0=ANNB
2
sin(p / N)cos(p / N), and then press Í. The
interactive solver editor is displayed.
N = 4 sides
N = 8 sides
N = 12 sides