Star Sum of Angles Problem

7 December 2018
Jim Stevenson
This problem posted by Presh Talwalkar offers a variety of solutions, but I didn’t quite see my
favorite approach for such problems. So I thought I would add it to the mix.
(https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2018/12/03/what-is-the-sum-of-angles-in-a-star-challenge-from-
india/, retrieved 12/6/2018)

What Is The Sum Of Angles In A Star?

Challenge From India
Posted December 3, 2018 By Presh Talwalkar.
Thanks to Nikhil Patro from India for suggesting this! What is the sum of the corner angles in a
regular 5-sided star? What is a + b + c + d + e = ?

Here’s a bonus problem: if the star is not regular, what is a + b + c + d + e = ?

Talwalkar Answer To Sum Of Angles In A Star

In the video, I explain an intuitive way to see the answer is 180 degrees. If you place a pen along
one of the sides, and then rotate it through the 5 angles, you will end up with the pen in the same spot
but flipped 180 degrees. You can see an animation of that here: star pentagon angle sum animation.1
While that is not a proof, it suggests an answer of 180 degrees, which might give you the idea to
think about half of a circle or the sum of angles in a triangle. These concepts can be used to prove the
result.

1
https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/a/17703 JOS: This is solution #1 at the site:
https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/17681/five-angles-in-a-star. Solution #2 is essentially a
duplicate of #1.

Star Sum of Angles Problem 181207.doc 1

Proof For A Regular Star Pentagon
There is a wonderful proof for a regular star pentagon. A regular star pentagon is symmetric
about its center so it can be inscribed in a circle. From there, we use the fact that an inscribed angle
has a measure that is half of the arc it subtends. So we get a figure like this:
Since a circle measures 360 degrees, and the
arcs combine to be the entire circle, we get:
2a + 2b + 2c + 2d + 2e = 360 degrees
Now we divide this equation by 2 and magically
we have the answer!
a + b + c + d + e = 180 degrees
Now you could extend this proof for the more
general case of an irregular star pentagon. You
could do this by showing the sum of the corner
angles is unchanged as you move a corner (proof
here2). Thus you can always re-arrange an
irregular star pentagon into a regular one, and
since the total angle sum is unchanged, the
irregular one must also have a measure of 180
degrees.
But there’s another proof that is more direct
that I prefer.

Proof For Any Star Pentagon

The key is to consider triangles.
The exterior angle to the triangle with corners b Similarly, the exterior angle to the triangle with
and d has an angle measure b + d: corners c and e has an angle measure c + e:

2
https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/a/17688/37015 JOS: This is solution #5 at the site:
https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/17681/five-angles-in-a-star.

Star Sum of Angles Problem 181207.doc 2

Thus the top triangle has angles a, b + d, and c + e:

Since the sum of the angles in a triangle is

180 degrees, and this triangle has the sum of
all the corner angles, we are done!
a + b + c + d + e = 180 degrees
There are many other ways to prove the result
too! And you can then investigate other star
polygons and closed curves—see the “further
reading” link.

Further reading: http://www.math.nsysu.edu.tw/~wong/papers/soa-SEAM-formatted.pdf

My Proof For Any Star Pentagon

My approach employs a
technique I use for measuring the
interior angles of any closed, multi-
lateral figure. In fact, Talwalkar
seemed to allude to the idea with his
rotating pen in the beginning of his
discussion above. Only instead of
considering the angles inside the star,
we look at the angles swept out by
each rotation of the pen, or arrow as
you slide it along the sides of the star
as in the figure to the right.
Beginning with the red arrow at
the vertex with angle a (1), we slide it
down the side of the star to the vertex
with angle d and rotate it until it lies
along the adjacent side of the star (2).
We continue sliding and rotating at each vertex of the star until we return
to the initial vertex with the arrow lying on top of its original position
(6). Then the arrow has rotated through an accumulated sum of angles
δ + β + ε + γ + α. Since the arrow returns to its original position, it must
have rotated an integral number of 360°. In fact, the diagram at right
shows the arrow made two complete rotations, that is, 720°. (The red
arrows represent the first rotation and the blue arrows the second.) So
δ + β + ε + γ + α = 720° = 4 x 180°.
On the other hand, the angles swept out by the arrow are the supplements of the vertex angles that
we are interested in. That is,
α + a = 180°
β + b = 180°

Star Sum of Angles Problem 181207.doc 3

 γ + c = 180°
δ + d = 180°
ε + e = 180°
So when we add these five equations, we have
4 x 180° + (a + b + c + d + e) = 5 x 180° ⇒ a + b + c + d + e = 180°
which shows the sum of the vertex angles is the same for any star. Clearly this technique will work
on similar figures with more sides.
(I also use this method to find the interior angles of a regular polygon, since I can never
remember the formula. For example, for a regular octagon, the sliding-rotating arrow will sweep out
8 equal angles and make one complete rotation of 360°. Therefore, the exterior angle it sweeps out at
each vertex is 360°/8 = 45°, which means 180° – 45° = 135° is the interior angle at each vertex.)
I checked the approaches given in Talwalkar’s reference to
https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/17681/five-angles-in-a-star and his reference in
“further reading”. Neither employed my method exactly, though solution #7 in the stackexchange
came the closest with its reference to the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem. Also my approach is a bit
reminiscent of winding numbers, which are valuable tools for finding critical points, zeros of complex
polynomials, or whether a point is inside or outside a closed curve.
© 2019 James Stevenson

Star Sum of Angles Problem 181207.doc 4