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In mathematics, a constructible polygon is a regular polygon that can be constructed with compass and straightedge. For example, a regular pentagon is constructible with compass and straightedge while a regular heptagon is not. There are infinitely many constructible polygons, but only 31 with an odd number of sides are known.
As a corollary of this, one finds that the degree of the minimal polynomial for a constructible point (and therefore of any constructible length) is a power of 2. In particular, any constructible point (or length) is an algebraic number, though not every algebraic number is constructible; for example, 3 √ 2 is algebraic but not constructible. [3]
Articles related to constructible regular polygons, i.e. those amenable to compass and straightedge construction. Carl Friedrich Gauss proved that a regular polygon is constructible if its number of sides has no odd prime factors that are not Fermat primes, and no odd prime factors that are raised to a power of 2 or higher.
Publication by C. F. Gauss in Intelligenzblatt der allgemeinen Literatur-Zeitung. As 17 is a Fermat prime, the regular heptadecagon is a constructible polygon (that is, one that can be constructed using a compass and unmarked straightedge): this was shown by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1796 at the age of 19. [1]
The points of may now be used to link the geometry and algebra by defining a constructible number to be a coordinate of a constructible point. [ 8 ] Equivalent definitions are that a constructible number is the x {\displaystyle x} -coordinate of a constructible point ( x , 0 ) {\displaystyle (x,0)} [ 9 ] or the length of a constructible line ...
The regular 65537-gon (one with all sides equal and all angles equal) is of interest for being a constructible polygon: that is, it can be constructed using a compass and an unmarked straightedge. This is because 65,537 is a Fermat prime , being of the form 2 2 n + 1 (in this case n = 4).
The regular 257-gon (one with all sides equal and all angles equal) is of interest for being a constructible polygon: that is, it can be constructed using a compass and an unmarked straightedge. This is because 257 is a Fermat prime, being of the form 2 2 n + 1 (in this case n = 3).
Some regular polygons are easy to construct with compass and straightedge; other regular polygons are not constructible at all. The ancient Greek mathematicians knew how to construct a regular polygon with 3, 4, or 5 sides, [11]: p. xi and they knew how to construct a regular polygon with double the number of sides of a given regular polygon.