Hendecagons - polygons with 11 sides

By Martin McBride, 2022-10-10
Tags: hendecagon 11 sided shape regular polygon irregular polygon
Categories: gcse geometry


A hendecagon is a flat shape with 11 straight sides.

Regular and irregular hendecagons

A regular hendecagon is a 11-sided shape where every side is the same length and every corner has the same angle. All regular hendecagons have the same shape, like this:

Regular hendecagon

An irregular hendecagon is a 11 sides shape where not every side and angle are equal. There are many different irregular hendecagon shapes, here is an example:

Irregular hendecagon

Name

The name hendecagon is a combination of the words hendeca (Greek meaning eleven) and gonia (Greek meaning corner).

Hendecagons are sometimes called 11-gons.

Interior angles

The interior angles of a hendecagon are shown here:

Interior angles of a hendecagon

The sum of these 11 angles is given by the formula:

sum of interior angles = (n - 2) x 180

Where n is the number of sides. In this case, the number of sides n is 11, so the sum of the interior angles is:

(11 - 2) x 180 = 1620 degrees

For a regular hendecagon, all the interior angles are equal:

Interior angles of an irregular hendecagon

This means that the interior angle of a regular hendecagon is:

1620 / 11 =  147.27 degrees (approximately)

Exterior angles

The exterior angles of a hendecagon are shown here:

Exterior angles of a hendecagon

The sum of the exterior angles of any polygon is 360 degrees.

For a regular hendecagon, all the interior angles are equal:

Exterior angles of an irregular hendecagon

This means that the exterior angle of a regular hendecagon is:

360 / 11 =  32.73 degrees (approximately)

Symmetry of regular hendecagons

A regular hendecagon has 11 lines of symmetry. This means that it can be reflected over each of the 11 grey lines shown here:

Lines of symmetry of a regular nonangon

A regular hendecagon has rotational symmetry of order 11. This means that if it rotated about its centre by a 11th of a full turn, it will map onto itself:

Lines of symmetry of a regular hendecagon

Real life examples

The Canadian 1 dollar coin is based on the regular hendecagon.

See also



Join the GraphicMaths Newletter

Sign up using this form to receive an email when new content is added:

Popular tags

angle area argand diagram cartesian equation chord circle combinations complex polygon complex power complex root cosh cosine cosine rule cube decagon derivative diagonal directrix dodecagon ellipse equilateral triangle eulers formula exponent exponential exterior angle first principles focus gradient graph hendecagon heptagon hexagon horizontal hyperbola hyperbolic function infinity interior angle inverse hyperbolic function irregular polygon isosceles trapezium isosceles triangle kite koch curve l system locus major axis minor axis newton raphson method nonagon normal octagon parabola parallelogram parametric equation pentagon perimeter permutations polar coordinates polynomial power pythagoras proof quadrilateral radians radius rectangle regular polygon rhombus root set sine sine rule sinh sloping lines solving equations solving triangles square standard curves star polygon straight line graphs symmetry tangent tanh transformations trapezium triangle turtle graphics vertical