Gauss's "heptadecagon', a 17-sided polygon that showed the relationship between geometry and algebra. But what’s widely considered his first important discovery is his construction of a 17-sided ...

The highly symmetrical 17-sided shape starred in a proof that Gauss considered one of his greatest ... equilateral triangle—a regular polygon—requires some elegant legwork.

Gauss’s first significant discovery was that a regular polygon of 17 sides could be constructed by ruler and compass alone. This was done through analysis of the factorisation of polynomial ...

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of Gauss, 'prince of mathematicians ... he was the first to work out how to make a 17-sided polygon, he predicted the orbit of the minor planet Ceres ...

Advertisement Gauss, who made contributions in the fields of number theory, algebra, geophysics, mechanics and statistics, discovered a heptadecagon, or a 17-sided polygon, could be made with a ...