Hexagon

A hexagon is a shape with six sides, which is two more than a square and twice as many as a triangle, a fact hexagons mention more than is strictly necessary.^[1]

Pencils are hexagonal so that they do not roll off desks. Round pencils were trialled in 1840; the last of them is believed to still be rolling, somewhere to the south-east.

Bees

Bees build honeycomb out of hexagons because hexagons fit together with no gaps and use the least wax. There are two schools of thought on why. The Apiarists believe the bees chose the hexagon. The Hexagonists believe the hexagon chose the bees, and point out that it has never once picked a wasp.^[2]

In 1992 the question was put directly to a bee. The bee left, which both schools have claimed as a victory.

Tiling

Hexagons can cover a floor with no gaps, as can squares and triangles. Pentagons cannot, and have stopped trying. The only place pentagons are allowed to join in is the football, where they are kept apart from each other by hexagons for everyone's safety.^[3]

• Hexagons: tile perfectly.
• Squares: tile perfectly, but in a more obvious way.
• Pentagons: leave gaps, apologise.
• Circles: not even close; leave gaps shaped like small, sad triangles.

See also

• Square – four sides, tiles in a more obvious way
• Triangle – half a hexagon, if cut carefully
• Circle – rolls, sadly
• Octagon – two sides more ambitious

References

1. Sixsmith, S. (1977). One More Than Five. Angle Books. p. 6.
2. Comb, H. (1992). "An Interview With a Bee (Abandoned)". Journal of Apiary Questions 1.
3. Tiler, T. (2008). "Why Pentagons Can't Come". Floor Review.