Equilateral

In geometry

Geometry

Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....

, an equilateral polygon is a polygon

Polygon

In geometry a polygon is a flat shape consisting of straight lines that are joined to form a closed chain orcircuit.A polygon is traditionally a plane figure that is bounded by a closed path, composed of a finite sequence of straight line segments...

 which has all sides of the same length.

For instance, an equilateral triangle

Triangle

A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....

 is a triangle of equal edge lengths. All equilateral triangles are similar

Similarity (geometry)

Two geometrical objects are called similar if they both have the same shape. More precisely, either one is congruent to the result of a uniform scaling of the other...

 to each other, and have 60 degree internal angle

Internal angle

In geometry, an interior angle is an angle formed by two sides of a polygon that share an endpoint. For a simple, convex or concave polygon, this angle will be an angle on the 'inner side' of the polygon...

s.

An equilateral quadrilateral

Quadrilateral

In Euclidean plane geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four sides and four vertices or corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used, by analogy with triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency with pentagon , hexagon and so on...

 is a rhombus

Rhombus

In Euclidean geometry, a rhombus or rhomb is a convex quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. The rhombus is often called a diamond, after the diamonds suit in playing cards, or a lozenge, though the latter sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 45° angle.Every...

, which includes the square

Square (geometry)

In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral. This means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles...

 as a special case.

An equilateral polygon which is cyclic (its vertices are on a circle) is a regular polygon

Regular polygon

A regular polygon is a polygon that is equiangular and equilateral . Regular polygons may be convex or star.-General properties:...

.
All equilateral quadrilaterals are convex

Convex polygon

In geometry, a polygon can be either convex or concave .- Convex polygons :A convex polygon is a simple polygon whose interior is a convex set...

, but there exist equilateral polygons with five sides (pentagon

Pentagon

In geometry, a pentagon is any five-sided polygon. A pentagon may be simple or self-intersecting. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagram is an example of a self-intersecting pentagon.- Regular pentagons :In a regular pentagon, all sides are equal in length and...

s) which are concave

Convex polygon

In geometry, a polygon can be either convex or concave .- Convex polygons :A convex polygon is a simple polygon whose interior is a convex set...

, and similarly for every larger number of sides.

Viviani's theorem

Viviani's theorem

Viviani's theorem, named after Vincenzo Viviani, states that the sum of the distances from a point to the sides of an equilateral triangle equals the length of the triangle's altitude....

 generalizes to equilateral polygons.

Triambi, which are equilateral hexagons with trigonal symmetry, appear in the three triambic icosahedra

The fifty nine icosahedra

The Fifty Nine Icosahedra is a book written and illustrated by H. S. M. Coxeter, P. Du Val, H. T. Flather and J. F. Petrie. It enumerates the stellations of the regular convex or Platonic icosahedron, according to a set of rules put forward by J. C. P. Miller...

:

External links

• Equilateral triangle With interactive animation
• A Property of Equiangular Polygons: What Is It About? a discussion of Viviani's theorem at Cut-the-knot
  Cut-the-knot
  Cut-the-knot is a free, advertisement-funded educational website maintained by Alexander Bogomolny and devoted to popular exposition of many topics in mathematics. The site has won more than 20 awards from scientific and educational publications, including a Scientific American Web Award in 2003,...
  
  .