HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In
geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
, a Robbins pentagon is a
cyclic Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in so ...
pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be sim ...
whose side lengths and area are all
rational number In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction of two integers, a numerator and a non-zero denominator . For example, is a rational number, as is every integer (e.g. ). The set of all ra ...
s.


History

Robbins pentagons were named by after
David P. Robbins David Peter Robbins (12 August 1942 in Brooklyn – 4 September 2003 in Princeton) was an American mathematician. He is most famous for introducing alternating sign matrices.. He is also known for his work on generalizations of Heron's formula ...
, who had previously given a formula for the area of a cyclic pentagon as a function of its edge lengths. Buchholz and MacDougall chose this name by analogy with the naming of
Heron triangle In geometry, a Heronian triangle (or Heron triangle) is a triangle whose side lengths , , and and area are all integers. Heronian triangles are named after Heron of Alexandria, based on their relation to Heron's formula. Heron's formula implies ...
s after
Hero of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἥρων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ''Heron ho Alexandreus'', also known as Heron of Alexandria ; 60 AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt. H ...
, the discoverer of
Heron's formula In geometry, Heron's formula (or Hero's formula) gives the area of a triangle in terms of the three side lengths , , . If s = \tfrac12(a + b + c) is the semiperimeter of the triangle, the area is, :A = \sqrt. It is named after first-century ...
for the area of a triangle as a function of its edge lengths.


Area and perimeter

Every Robbins pentagon may be scaled so that its sides and area are integers. More strongly, Buchholz and MacDougall showed that if the side lengths are all integers and the area is rational, then the area is necessarily also an integer, and the
perimeter A perimeter is a closed path that encompasses, surrounds, or outlines either a two dimensional shape or a one-dimensional length. The perimeter of a circle or an ellipse is called its circumference. Calculating the perimeter has several pr ...
is necessarily an
even number In mathematics, parity is the property of an integer of whether it is even or odd. An integer is even if it is a multiple of two, and odd if it is not.. For example, −4, 0, 82 are even because \begin -2 \cdot 2 &= -4 \\ 0 \cdot 2 &= 0 \\ 41 ...
.


Diagonals

Buchholz and MacDougall also showed that, in every Robbins pentagon, either all five of the internal diagonals are rational numbers or none of them are. If the five diagonals are rational (the case called a ''Brahmagupta pentagon'' by ), then the radius of its circumscribed circle must also be rational, and the pentagon may be partitioned into three Heron triangles by cutting it along any two non-crossing diagonals, or into five Heron triangles by cutting it along the five radii from the circle center to its vertices. Buchholz and MacDougall performed computational searches for Robbins pentagons with irrational diagonals but were unable to find any. On the basis of this negative result they suggested that Robbins pentagons with irrational diagonals may not exist.


References

*. * *. *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Robbins Pentagon Arithmetic problems of plane geometry Circles Types of polygons