Question

Medal will be awarded:
When constructing an inscribed polygon with a compass and straightedge, how should you start the construction?

Use a protractor to measure the original circle into four equal parts.

Use a ruler to find the length of the diameter and then make an arc above it.

Open the compass to the width of the circle and use that as a guide.

Place a point on your paper and then use a compass to construct a circle.

Answer 1

@jigglypuff314 do you know this?

Answer 2

do you know @ranga?

Answer 3

If the polygon is a regular polygon with four equal sides (meaning a square) then the first choice will do the job.

But in the question they don't tell you if the polygon is regular (meaning all sides are equal) and how many sides the polygon has.

Answer 4

so the answer isn't a?

Answer 5

The question is a bit ambiguous and hence my hesitation in giving a clear answer.

If I am asked to inscribe a square (which is a regular polygon of four equal sides) inside a circle, then I will take a protractor and divide the circle into 4 equal parts and then use the straightedge to construct the square.

But the question does not tell you whether the polygon is regular and has 4 equal sides and hence my difficulty in giving a clear answer.

Answer 6

ahhh i see, well if you cant give a clear answer, do not worry about it, i appreciate your time and help, i too cant decide on a choice. But do you have a smart guess?

Answer 7

or an answer you're leaning towards? I think C?

Answer 8

Check out this site. It has several geometric constructions and hopefully one of them will address this construction: http://www.mathopenref.com/constperpextpoint.html

Let us say I am given a specific task of inscribing a pentagon within a circle. How will I go about it. A pentagon is a regular polygon (meaning equal sides) with five equal sides. The 5 sides will make a total of 360 degrees at the center. So each side will make 360 / 5 = 72 degrees. So I will use a protractor to measure 72 degrees at the center and mark off the points on the circle and join the points to get one side of the pentagon. So my first step is using the protractor. But it makes the assumption the polygon is regular.

Answer 9

In constructing a polygon inside a circle in the link I gave you they are doing step B first!

Answer 10

a very detailed explanation, i will go with A based on this. Thank you @Ranga!!!

Answer 11

oh ok let me check

Answer 12

hold on. check this out first: http://www.mathopenref.com/constinpentagon.html

Answer 13

But for inscribing a hexagon their first step in construction is different than for the pentagon. Now you can see the ambiguity because the question does not specify how many sides the polygon has and whether it is regular or not.

Answer 14

wow, so its hard to determine with the question not specifying.
we will have to guess

Answer 15

yeah. once in a while we do run into questions of this sort where we can't figure out what the person had in mind when asking the question.

Answer 16

well thank you for your time and help!!

Answer 17

you are welcome. wish the question was unambiguous.

Answer 18

what was the answer