Areas of polygons inscribed in a circle (Q1334934): Difference between revisions

The author obtains formulas giving the areas of a pentagon or hexagon inscribed in a circle in terms of their side lengths; these results extend the Heron of Alexandria's formula for triangles and the Brahmagupta's formula for quadrilaterals inscribed in a circle. The general case of cyclic polygons is also considered and the author proves that for each cyclic \(n\)-gon there exists a unique (up to a sign) irreducible homogeneous polynomial with integer coefficients involving the area of the \(n\)-gon and its side lengths; upper bounds for the degree of this polynomial are also obtained but the degree is precisely determined only in the cases \(n \leq 6\). The author states several conjectures for the cases \(n > 6\) and for the possibilities to use an analogous treatment to determine the circumradius of a cyclic polygon.