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Can you do it with heptagons?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2025

Ann Hirst*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Mathematical Studies, University of Southampton SO17 IBJ

Extract

The subject of polygon loops was introduced by Gerry Price, a County General Inspector in Hampshire for Mathematics, and Roger May, Teacher Adviser for Mathematics, Southampton, during an evening meeting for teachers of Mathematics in 1991. The question posed was, “Can you always make a loop with a set of congruent regular polygons?” Since then various articles have appeared in which polygon loops of various kinds have been discussed. Ann MacNamara and Tom Roper [4] described how Year 9 students worked with octagon loops in a trial Standard Assessment Test, and Jackie Davies [2] used a particular family of square loops with primary children. Grunbaum and Shephard [3, pp. 104-106] show plane tilings in which one can spot polygon loops of equilateral triangles, squares, and regular hexagons, octagons and dodecagons.

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Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1995

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References

1. Coxeter, H.S.M., Introduction to Geometry, Wiley, 1961.Google Scholar
2. Davies, J., Maths Week at Edgebury, Mathematics in School, 23(1) (January 1994) pp. 4648.Google Scholar
3. Grunbaum, B. and Shephard, G.C., Tilings and Patterns, an Introduction, W. H. Freeman Co (1989).Google Scholar
4. MacNamara, A. and Roper, T., Attainment Target 1 - is all the evidence there?, Mathematics Teaching, (September 1992), pp. 2627.Google Scholar