SOLUTION: i have had trouble working on this math problem and i was wondering if someone could help me? Please and Thank you! I would deeply appreciate it! What is the ratio of the measur

Algebra ->  Polygons -> SOLUTION: i have had trouble working on this math problem and i was wondering if someone could help me? Please and Thank you! I would deeply appreciate it! What is the ratio of the measur      Log On


   



Question 269205: i have had trouble working on this math problem and i was wondering if someone could help me? Please and Thank you! I would deeply appreciate it!
What is the ratio of the measure of an interior angle to the measure of an exterior angle in a regular hexagon? A regular decagon? A regular n-gon?

Answer by AnlytcPhil(1807) About Me  (Show Source):
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i have had trouble working on this math problem and i was wondering if someone could help me? Please and Thank you! I would deeply appreciate it!
What is the ratio of the measure of an interior angle to the measure of an exterior angle in a regular hexagon? A regular decagon? A regular n-gon?

Let's do the last one first:

The sum of the interior angles of any n-gon is given by

Sum+=+%22180%B0%22%28n-2%29

If the polygon is regular then all of its interior angles are equal in
measure, so each one of them must be that sum divided by n. So

Each_interior_angle=%28%22180%B0%22%28n-2%29%29%2Fn

The sum of the exterior angles of any n-gon is 360°

If the polygon is regular then all of its exterior angles are equal in
measure, so each one of them must be 360° divided by n. So

Each_exterior_angle=%28%22360%B0%22%29%2Fn

So the ratio of the measure of an interior angle to the measure of an 
exterior angle in a regular n-gon is

%28%28%22180%B0%22%28n-2%29%29%2Fn%29%2F%28%22360%B0%22%2Fn%29

%28%28%22180%B0%22%28n-2%29%29%2Fn%29%22%F7%22%29%28%22360%B0%22%2Fn%29


Invert the second fraction and change division to multiplication

%28%28%22180%B0%22%28n-2%29%29%2Fn%29%22%D7%22%29%28n%2F%22360%B0%22%29

Cnacel the n's and the 180° into the 360° getting 2 on the bottom:

%28n-2%29%2F2

A regular hexagon has 6 sides, so substitute n=6 in the equation:

%286-2%29%2F2=4%2F2=2 and the ratio is 2 to 1 or 2:1.

A regular decagon has 10 sides, so substitute n=10 in the equation:

%2810-2%29%2F2=8%2F2=4 and the ratio is 4 to 1 or 4:1.

Edwin