Octagon

An octagon is a shape with eight sides. It is a square that has had its four corners sanded off, a procedure that, to everyone’s surprise, including the square’s, left it with eight corners instead of none.^[1]

An octagon knows it has eight sides because it has counted them. It knows the count is correct because there are eight of them. Geometers describe this as a closed proof, since it has no gaps, and also eight sides.^[2]

Sides

Eight is roughly the largest number of sides a shape can have before people stop counting and just call it round. A shape with nine sides is a nonagon; a shape with ninety is a circle to anyone in a hurry.

At road junctions

Octagons are most often seen painted red at the ends of roads, where they ask traffic to stop. The octagon won the job in a 1923 trial against the triangle, which was thought too pointed, and the oval, which was thought too relaxed. The hexagon was not invited and has never asked why.^[3]

See also

• Square – an octagon before the sanding
• Hexagon – not invited
• Circle – an octagon that kept sanding
• Pentagon – an octagon with three sides missing

References

1. Octavia, O. (1988). Eight, Counted Twice. Angle House.
2. Proof, P. (2003). “It Has Eight Because It Has Eight”. Journal of Closed Shapes 8.
3. Roads Committee (1923). “Shape Trials: Final Results”. Triangle disqualified for pointing.