Count six edges

What Is a Hexagon?

A hexagon is a closed polygon with six straight sides and six vertices. It may be regular or irregular, convex or concave; the name comes from counting the connected edges around its boundary.

Interactive diagram

Hexagon Diagram

Track the six sides around the boundary and compare the general hexagon with the regular version.
A side count with a regular bonus

Six-sided facts worth noticing

A regular hexagon is especially useful because each interior angle measures one hundred twenty degrees and the shape can be divided neatly into six congruent equilateral triangles from its center.

Hexagons matter in geometry and applications because they sit at a sweet spot between simple symmetry and efficient tiling. That makes the regular case one of the most recognizable polygons beyond the square.

When you count a hexagon, start at one vertex and move around the entire boundary in one direction. Do not count a diagonal or an interior line as an extra side. In the regular case, the center-to-vertex segments divide the shape into six small equilateral triangles, which explains much of its clean symmetry.

A regular hexagon is also a useful tessellation shape because six copies can meet around a point without leaving a gap. That application comes from its 120-degree interior angles, not from the word hexagon alone.

If the six sides are unequal, the polygon still has a 720-degree total inside. What changes is the distribution of the angle measures, not the side-count identity. This distinction is useful whenever a diagram is not drawn as a perfect regular hexagon.

  • A hexagon is a polygon with six sides.
  • A hexagon has six sides, six vertices, and an interior angle sum of seven hundred twenty degrees.
  • Each interior angle of a regular hexagon is one hundred twenty degrees.
  • A regular hexagon can be partitioned into six congruent equilateral triangles from the center.
A familiar shape with structure

Where hexagons are useful

  • Use hexagon naming in polygon-classification and side-count questions.
  • Use regular hexagons in symmetry, tessellation, and angle problems.
  • Use hexagons as examples when moving from special polygons to n-gon formulas.
Do not let the regular picture decide

Hexagon checks to make

  • Do not assume every hexagon is regular just because many textbook examples are.
  • Do not mix the side-count name with the angle values of the regular case.
  • Do not lose the count when the six-sided boundary is irregular or partly concave.

Compare a general hexagon with a regular one

Worked example

Example 1: Count six sides carefully

Short edges can make a polygon look circular, so count the boundary rather than estimating its shape.

  • Start at one corner.
  • Count six consecutive edges.
  • Check that the path closes.

The closed six-edge boundary is a hexagon.

Worked example

Example 2: Find a regular hexagon's turn

Six equal exterior turns complete one full rotation.

  • Divide 360 degrees by six.
  • Mark the 60-degree exterior turn.
  • Compare the repeating corners.

A regular hexagon turns 60 degrees at each vertex.

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