Constructing a Regular Heptadecagon (17-gon) with Ruler and Compass
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The number 17 is a Fermat prime, which means it is of the form , with
. In 1796, Gauss discovered that regular polygons with a Fermat number of sides can be constructed using only a straight edge and compass [1]. Gauss showed, in particular, that
Contributed by: S. M. Blinder (September 2017)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
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