4 ms·
maybe it's a regularising "the", like "the Moon" vs. "a moon"... "the" regular pentagon, vs., etc.
by lainga 5y ago
maybe it's a regularising "the", like "the Moon" vs. "a moon"... "the" regular pentagon, vs., etc.
- thaumasiotes 5y agoThe use of "the" isn't the weird part. The weird part is that the article attempts to draw a contrast between "pentagons" and "five-sided polygons", which are exactly the same thing.
- waluigi 5y agoI think what the poster above is saying is that by saying "the pentagon" the author is referring to the (unique) 5 sided regular polygon, as opposed to some random, potentially non-regular 5 sided polygon.
- thaumasiotes 5y agoThat would not stop it from being a bizarre error in an otherwise decent article. There is no such use. I interpreted it in the same way as e.g. "the cow has four stomachs". This is a question about graph theory anyway; there are no side lengths or interior angles.
- frogpelt 5y agoPentagons are 5-sided polygons where all the sides are equal. Not all 5-sided polygons are pentagons. What am I missing?
- MadcapJake 5y agoWhat you're describing is called a regular pentagon.
- karmakaze 5y agoThe pointlessness in the distinction is that we're talking about graphs defined by their vertices and edges, not how they're drawn. (Planar graphs about how they 'could' be drawn not withstanding.)
- thaumasiotes 5y agoNo, it isn't; a regular pentagon has all equal side lengths (as described) and all equal interior angles (not as described).
- thaumasiotes 5y agoYou are missing the definition of a pentagon; try to avoid just making up definitions for words you don't know.