Hi Gibsonj338
If the area of a regular octagon is equal to 500 feet, what is the length of all the sides, the radius, and the apothem. Please show how you got your answers and round your answers to the nearest hundreths
I assume that you mean the area is 500 feet^2 :)
Let the length of the apothem be 'h' and the length of half a side be 'b'

\(500=16*0.5*bh\\ 500=8bh\\~\\ \mbox{Now I need to find the angle (theta) between the apothem and the side }\\ \theta=180(8-2)\div 8\div2\\ \theta=\frac{6*180}{16} \\ \theta=67.5 degrees \\\)
\(tan 67.5 = \frac{h}{b}\\ b = \frac{h}{tan 67.5}\\\)
Now solve the 2 equations simultaneously to get your solution.
\(500=\frac{8h^2}{tan67.5}\\ \frac{500\;tan\;67.5}{8}=h^2\\ h=\sqrt{\frac{500\;tan\;67.5}{8}}\\\)
sqrt(500*tan(67.5*pi/180)/8 = 12.2836618175653346
5.0880593204403051371 = 5.088059320440305(12.2836618175653346/tan((67.5*pi/180))*2 = 10.17611864088061027431371e0
the apothem is 12.28366 feet and the side is 10.176118 feet
the apothem is 12.28 feet and the side is 10.18 feet to the nearest hundreth foot
check
8*(0.5*12.28*10.18) should equal 500
8*(0.5*12.28*10.18) = 500.0416 good
so that seems ok I think.