17–16 Applications
82501F~1.DOC TI-83 international English Bob Fedorisko Revised: 10/26/05 1:49 PM Printed: 10/27/05 3:04
PM Page 16 of 20
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.
N = 4 sides N = 8 sides N = 12 sides
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.
3. Enter N=4 and B=6 to find the area (A) of a square with a
distance (
B) from center to vertex of 6 centimeters.
4. Press } } to move the cursor onto A, and then press ƒ
[
SOLVE]. The solution for A is displayed on the interactive
solver editor.
5. Now solve for B for a given area with various number of
sides. Enter
A=200 and N=6. To find the distance B, move the
cursor onto
B, and then press ƒ [SOLVE].
6. Enter N=8. To find the distance B, move the cursor onto B,
and then press ƒ [
SOLVE]. Find B for N=9, and then for
N=10.
Computing Areas of Regular N-Sided Polygons
Problem
Procedure