User Manual

TI-83 Plus Activities 588

Computing Areas of Regular N-Sided

Polygons

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,

Consider the formula A = NB

sin(

pà

N) cos(

pà

N) for the area of a

regular polygon with N sides of equal length and B distance from the

center to a vertex.

N = 4 sides N = 8 sides N = 12 sides

Procedure

1. Press



to select

0:Solver

from the

MATH

menu. Either the

equation editor or the interactive solver editor is displayed. If the