hexagon n : a six-sided polygon

English

Noun

1. A polygon with six sides and six angles.

Derived terms

• Lemoine hexagon
• Tucker hexagon

Translations

Related terms

• hexagonal

In geometry, a hexagon is a polygon with six edges and six vertices. A regular hexagon has Schläfli symbol .

Regular hexagon

The internal angles of a regular hexagon (one where all sides and all angles are equal) are all 120° and the hexagon has 720 degrees. It has 6 rotational symmetries and 6 reflection symmetries, making up the dihedral group D6. The longest diagonals of a regular hexagon, connecting diametrically opposite vertices, are twice its sides in length. Like squares and equilateral triangles, regular hexagons fit together without any gaps to tile the plane (three hexagons meeting at every vertex), and so are useful for constructing tessellations. The cells of a beehive honeycomb are hexagonal for this reason and because the shape makes efficient use of space and building materials. The Voronoi diagram of a regular triangular lattice is the honeycomb tessellation of hexagons.

The area of a regular hexagon of side length t\,\! is given by A = \fract^2 \simeq 2.598076211 t^2.

The perimeter of a regular hexagon of side length t\,\! is, of course, 6t\,\!, its maximal diameter 2t\,\!, and its minimal diameter t\sqrt\,\!. There is no platonic solid made of regular hexagons. The archimedean solids with some hexagonal faces are the truncated tetrahedron, truncated octahedron, truncated icosahedron (of soccer ball and fullerene fame), truncated cuboctahedron and the truncated icosidodecahedron.

Hexagons: natural and human-made

's carapace France has a vaguely hexagonal shape. In French, "L'hexagone" sometimes refers to the country.

See also

• Hexagram: 6-sided star within a regular hexagon
• Unicursal hexagram: single path, 6-sided star, within a hexagon
• Hexagonal tiling: a regular tiling of hexagons in a plane
• Hexagonal number

External links

• Definition and properties of a hexagon With interactive animation
• Cassini Images Bizarre Hexagon on Saturn
• Saturn's Strange Hexagon
• A hexagonal feature around Saturn's North Pole
• "Bizarre Hexagon Spotted on Saturn" - from Space.com (27 March 2007)