Ptolemy's Theorem and Regular Polygons

Author(s): L. S. Shively
Source: The Mathematics Teacher, Vol. 39, No. 3 (MARCH 1946), pp. 117-120
Published by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
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 Ptolemy'sTheorem and Regular Polygons
By L. S. Shively, Ball State Teachers College, Muncie, Ind.

1. Introduction. It might be both ADBC

EC*
profitable and interesting to attempt to BD
evaluate the relative importance of some
of the outstanding theorems of elemen Adding these equations and clearing frac
tary geometry by means of a poll ofmathe tions gives the desired result:
maticians. If this were done, there is little
doubt that the theorem of Pythagoras ACBD=ABCD+ADBC.
would in the opinion of most people, head Second proof. Designating the sides and
the list. It is not so clear just how other the diagonals of the quadrilateral by the
important theorems would be ranked.
But without doubt, Ptolemy's theorem
concerning an inscribed quadrilateral is
deserving of a high place. This judgemnt
is warranted, both from the point of view
of the use which Ptolemy made of it, and
from a consideration of its power as a tool
for geometric study.
Ptolemy's theorem is fundamental in
the mathematical treatment of the geo
centric theory of the universe as it was
developed about a century after the be
ginning of the Christian Era. This theory, Fig. 1
although now in the discard, stimulated
scientific work and influenced thought for
1400 years. lower case letters as indicated in the figure
In what follows, the theorem itself will and applying the law of cosines to triangle
be considered, the use which Ptolemy ABC gives
made of it will be explained, and applica
x*= a?+b2-2ab cos ABC.
tion of it to the study of the regular poly
gons will be made. Also, from triangle A CD
2. Ptolemy's Theorem. If a quadri
lateral is inscribed in a circle, the product x2= c2+cP-2cd cos CDA.
is to the sum the
of the diagonals equal of
sides. The last equation is equivalent to
products of the pairs of opposite
Two proofs will be given. The first one x*= c*+d?+2cd cos ABC,
is based upon similarity, the second on the
law of cosines. since angles ABC and CDA are supple
First proof. Referring to Fig. 1, let mentary. If now we multiply the first and
BE be drawn so that ?ABE = ?DBC. third by cd and ab respectively
equations
Then the triangles ABE and DBC are and add, we get
similar, from which it follows that =
(a6+cd)x2 (a2+62)cd+(c2+d2)o6.
ABCD
AE=
Dividing and factoring,
BD
and A BD are similar; (ac+bd)(ad+bc)
-
Also, triangles BCE x? =
and ab+cd

117

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 118 THE MATHEMATICS TEACHER

In a similar way, with triangles A BD

and BCD,

2 (ac+bd)(ab+cd)
^
ad+bc
Multiplying and extracting square roots,
gives
=
xy ac+bd.

We note that in the foregoing develop

Fig. 2
ment are equations which enable us to
give the lengths of the diagonals in terms
polygon, one of whose diagonals is a diam
of the sides.
eter, and for the sake of simplicity, the
3. Ptolemy's Use of the Theorem.
unit of length is chosen equal to the
Although the first complete text on trigo diameter of the circle. By Ptolemy's
nometry did not appear until 1533,1 its
theorem,
principal concepts and theorems were
=
developed by various writers at much xy ac+bd.
earlier dates. Ptolemy organized and ar
Now x = l, =
y sm(a+?), a = sin a,
ranged much of the work which had been
6= cos a, d = sin ?} c= cos ?. Substitution
accomplished by his predecessors, in the
of these values gives the result:
form in which it is found in the Almagest.2
This was done in order that he might avail sin (a+?) = sin a cos a sin ?.
?+cos
himself of it in the exposition of his
astronomical theory. With the aid of this, expressed in terms of
One of Ptolemy's needs was a table the lines of the quadrilateral, rather than
giving the lengths of chords of a circle sines and cosines, Ptolemy computed a
corresponding to various central angles. A table of lengths of chords.
little thoughtwill show that this is the 4. Application to the Rectangle. If
equivalent of our present day table of the inscribed quadrilateral is a rectangle
sines. In order to construct this table he whose adjacent sides are a and b and
used the relation which in modern terms whose diagonals are c, the theorem reduces
is known as the addition theorem for to the Pythagorean theorem: a2+b2 = c2.
sines: sin (a+?) =sin a cos ?+cos a sin ?. Since the first proof given in Sec. 2 is
To show how this was accomplished we entirely independent of the theorem of
first observe (Fig. 2) that if an angle is in Pythagoras, we have here a simple proof
scribed in a circle whose diameter is unity, of the latter.
the sine of the angle is represented by the
chord which subtends the angle. Thus,
sin 6= AC; for, if AB' is a diameter,

AC
= sin 0=-=
?AB,C Qi1 and ' AC.

Now in Fig. 3 we take an inscribed

1This was the book

by Johann M?ller, who
also went by the name Regiomontanus, entitled
De Triangulis Planis et Sphericus cum Tabulis
Sinuum.
2
See M. Halma, Composition math?matique
de Claude Ptol?m?e, vol. 1, pp. 26-46. Fig. 3

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 PTOLEMY'S THEOREM AND REGULAR POLYGONS 119

5. The Regular Pentagon.

Consider The area of the pentagon is
a regular pentagon inscribed in a circle
whose radius is r. Let a be the length of a 5rVlO+2\/5 ?
=-?
50NAN
side and d the length of a diagonal of the 8

a In terms of the side a, the area is

aV25+10\/5
4
6. The Regular Hexagon. If the ver
tices of a regular hexagon whose side is a
be numbered 1,2, ? ? ? and
6, the theorem
is applied to the quadrilateral 1346, we
obtain the equation =
2+a2 4a2, where
is the length of a short diagonal of the
=
Fig. 4 hexagon. Thus a\/3.
7. The Regular Heptagon. For sim
pentagon (Fig. 4). Applying the theorem plicity, let the side of the heptagon have
of Ptolemy to the polygon BCDE, we the length unity, let the vertices be num
have bered consecutively from 1 to 7, and repre
sent the diagonals 1 3 and 1 4 by a; and y
d2= ad+a2.
respectively. Then from quadrilaterals
The solution of this quadratic equation for 1 2 3 7 and 1 3 4 7 we obtain the equations

a(1+ /5) x2= y+l,

d in terms of a gives d =-? =
y2 xy+l.

Next, draw the perpendicular AM to By elimination of y from this pair it is

the diagonal BE. In the right triangle found that must satisfy the cubic equa
2? 2z
ABM we have, from the foregoing and tion 3? =
+ l 0.
from the Pythagorean theorem: AB ? a, Inspection shows that this equation has
no integral root. Hence it has no rational
a(l+V5) _, <VlO-2v/5 root. It follows that cannot be con
jBM=-; MA=
4 4 structed with the ruler and compass,3 and
it is impossible with
And since ZM?4=36?, sin 36? = cos 54? that, consequently
ruler and compass to construct a regular
=--? /10-2 /5 1+V5 ? polygon of seven sides.
;cos36?=sin 54?=-?
4 4 8. The Regular Polygon of Nine
Sides. Designating the vertices of the
To find the relation between the side of whose side has unit length by the
polygon
the pentagon and its radius, consider the numbers from 1 to and the diagonals
9,
right triangle O AN. Since the angle 1 3, 1 4, 1 5 by x, y, zy respectively, we ob
NO A =36?, AN=r sin 36?, and the side tain in succession from the polygons 1234,
2 ? 0-2 / VIO -2\/5
1245 and 1456 the equations
a=-=-?
4 2 x2= y+l,
=
The radius of the inscribed circle is y2 xz+l,
xz = y+z.

ON=r cos 36?=^-? ? 3

See Dickson, Theory of Equations, pp 90
4 92, Wiley, 1914.

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 120 THE MATHEMATICS TEACHER

From these equations, by elimination of of y, ???

following values ,w, in terms of
y and , is found to satisfy the equation x:
= x2?l
xz?Sx ?1=0. By reasoning similar to y

that at the end of Sec. 7 it follows that a z=

x(x2-2),
regular polygon of nine sides cannot be t= xA-3x2+l,
constructed by means of the ruler and
u = x(x2-l)(x2-3),
compass.
From the first and third of the above v= x6-5x*+6x2-l,
it is seen that z= x+l. This
equations w = x(x2-2)(x4-?x2+2).
gives the interesting result: A longest
diagonal of a regular nonagon is equal to If the last two of these are substituted in
the sum of a shortest diagonal and a side. the equation xw = v+w, the result is
8- 7-
7x6+6z5+15z4 -10xz -1 Ox2+4x
+ 1=0, one root of which is obviously
7
? ? ?
2 cos
17

Knowing the Gauss theory of the 17

sided polygon, it is clear that the shortest
diagonal can be constructed with ruler and
compass. But there appears to be no con
veniently deduced method of making the
construction, based upon the foregoing
equation of the eighth degree.
The work shows that each diagonal of
Fig. 5 the polygon is a rational integral function
of the shortest diagonal.
9. The Regular Polygon of Seven 10. Further Results. Some of the
teen Sides. This polygon has diagonals results just given generalize for the regular
of seven different lengths. As before, the n-gon. Thus, for example, it is easily seen
that all the diagonals of a regular n-gon
length of a side is taken as the unit and
are expressible as polynomials of the short
x, y, 2, tju, ,w, represent the diagonals in
est diagonal.
order of increasing length. The polygons
By properly interpreting the equations
1234, 1345, 1456, 1567, 1678, 1789, 189 10
x2= l+y, xy = x+z} xz = y+t, ? ? ? of Sec.
lead to the equations
9, the variables may be regarded as fol
= lows: x = 2 cos 0, y?1+2 cos 2 , z = x
x2=l+y, xy x+z,
cos 3 0, ? ? ? .
xz = y+t, xt= z+u, +2 Making the necessary
eliminations, there result the multiple
xu = t-\-v, xv= u+w,
angle formulas for the cosine,
xw = v+w.
cos 20 = 2 cos2 0-1,
From the first six of these we obtain the cos 30
= 4 cos3 0-3 cos 0,
? ? ? .

Attention, National Council Members

Be sure to mark your ballot (page 92, February 1946 issue of The Mathematics
Teacher) and send it to Secretary E. W. Schreiber, State Teachers College, Macomb,
111.before April 15, 1946.

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