Polya Problem

1) Understand the problem.

If a polygon has a point inside then any of the vertices can connect to that point to make a

triangulation. How can the triangulation can be used to explain (n-2)x180 for the sum of

the interior.

2) Devise a Plan

A polygon always has an interior degree of (n-2)x180. Though when you connect to a

center point you get an equal number of triangles to the angles so n would be the single

number. Through comparing this problem to the problem above it I will come up with an

answer to why the equation (n-2)x180 is still relevant.

3) Carry out the Plan

The solution to why the equation (n-2)x180 is still relevant is that the point S in the

middle is a connecting point for all the triangles and is a circle. A circles degree is 360

which is 2 180’s. This means that the interior point makes the 2 180s that we subtract out

in the equation. Leaving the equation as the (n-2)x180.

4) Lookback

This took me a while to figure out what the question was asking. At first I thought that

the question was asking for a whole new equation. Though when I reread it about 4 times

I realized it just wanted me to prove why the equation still worked. Then it was the issue

of figuring out why the equation was still able to work. After much working with it and

knowing that all the triangles have a degree of 180 that I realized that the point is a circle

and so all the angles touching that point would make a circle as well which is the extra
360 that having that point creates. The point makes two extra triangles which are each

180 degrees which is taken care of by the circle.