Extremal area of polygons, sliding along a circle (Q2134180)

In the paper under review polygons having \(n\) vertices on a circle or an ellipse are considered, and all critical configurations for their (signed) area function are determined. In the main result, the author gives geometric criteria for the critical points, and determines the Hesse matrix at those points. Most of the critical points turn out to be of Morse type, although several of them have zigzag behavior. For isolated critical points, the Morse index is computed.