Polygons are 2-dimensional flat shapes made from straight line segments that don't cross over one another. Those shapes you learned back in elementary school? Triangle, square, rectangle, hexagon? They are all polygons. What about a circle? Nope because it isn't made from straight line segments.
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Polygons are named by the number of sides they have; hence, a triangle has three sides (or three angles), a quadrilateral has four sides, a pentagon has five, etc. If you thought you were 'done' with shapes when you left elementary school, then think again! Recognizing the different shapes is going to be important as you dive into using formulae for finding area and surface area of figures based on your knowledge of the shape.
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