Polygon Angle Sums
A free Geometry lesson from the “Geometry Foundations” unit, with a worked example and practice problems including step-by-step solutions.
A polygon with n sides can be split into n - 2 triangles, so its interior angle sum is (n - 2) x 180 degrees. One exterior angle at each vertex always adds to 360 degrees.
What you'll learn
- Use the polygon interior angle sum formula
- Find one angle in regular polygons
- Use exterior angle sums
Worked example
Problem. Find the interior angle sum of a hexagon.
- A hexagon has 6 sides.
- Use (n - 2) x 180.
- (6 - 2) x 180 = 720.
Answer: 720 degrees
Practice problems
1. Find the interior angle sum of a quadrilateral.
Show solution
- Warm-up: First identify exactly what the question is asking: Find the interior angle sum of a quadrilateral.
- Use the relevant geometric relationship first, then set up an equation from the angle measures or side relationships.
- Use (4 - 2) x 180.
- Check the result by substituting or estimating: the response should match 360 and make sense in the original problem.
Answer: 360
2. Find the interior angle sum of a pentagon.
Show solution
- Warm-up: First identify exactly what the question is asking: Find the interior angle sum of a pentagon.
- Use the relevant geometric relationship first, then set up an equation from the angle measures or side relationships.
- Use (5 - 2) x 180.
- Check the result by substituting or estimating: the response should match 540 and make sense in the original problem.
Answer: 540
3. Find the interior angle sum of an octagon.
Show solution
- Core Practice: First identify exactly what the question is asking: Find the interior angle sum of an octagon.
- Use the relevant geometric relationship first, then set up an equation from the angle measures or side relationships.
- Use (8 - 2) x 180.
- Check the result by substituting or estimating: the response should match 1080 and make sense in the original problem.
Answer: 1080
4. A regular hexagon has each interior angle equal to what measure?
Show solution
- Core Practice: First identify exactly what the question is asking: A regular hexagon has each interior angle equal to what measure?
- Use the relevant geometric relationship first, then set up an equation from the angle measures or side relationships.
- Hexagon sum is 720.
- 720 divided by 6 is 120.
- Check the result by substituting or estimating: the response should match 120 and make sense in the original problem.
Answer: 120
5. A regular polygon has 10 sides. What is each exterior angle?
Show solution
- Challenge: First identify exactly what the question is asking: A regular polygon has 10 sides. What is each exterior angle?
- Use the relevant geometric relationship first, then set up an equation from the angle measures or side relationships.
- Exterior angles add to 360.
- 360 divided by 10 is 36.
- Check the result by substituting or estimating: the response should match 36 and make sense in the original problem.
Answer: 36
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