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Last active September 3, 2026 20:16
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Ancient Greek Geometry walkthrough / answers / cheats

Solutions for Ancient Greek Geometry (https://sciencevsmagic.net/geo)

Most solutions taken from the about thread. See the comments below for more additions since my last check-in.

Polygons

Circle Packs

Circumscribed Polygons

Non-Constructible Figures

Abuse of floating-point math can make the widget approve non-constructible polygons (polygons with edge count 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35, ..., which cannot be precisely constructed using straightedge and compass):

@ILoveMath62

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I optimized the 32-gon by making it from the 16-gon in 23 moves to save one move.

@ILoveMath62

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Also, check out my modified fork of the gist. I told y'all about it 40 days ago. https://gist.github.com/ILoveMath62/1809331060b47ba21144521ad178e6b2

@ILoveMath62

ILoveMath62 commented Apr 5, 2026

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Circle pack 8, 33 moves (yes that is the smallest circle pack 8)

@ILoveMath62

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Using the tangent trick, I found a 33-gon solution in 55 moves.

@ILoveMath62

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@ILoveMath62

ILoveMath62 commented Apr 5, 2026

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@Eddy119, I've tried to make the 17-gon in 36 moves, I still don't think other stars would optimize it, and yes, I have tried to get rid of the stepping off the starting side circle for the final star trick, no luck so far. I might just be unlucky to find it. It makes sense why that would be true, as I'm not as `familiar with the math behind it. (Sorry, I'm not ready for this level yet lol.)

@Ian-Zander

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Should I add occ polygons to my spreadsheet?

@ILoveMath62

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I took the tangent trick for the 39-gon to make 67 moves.

@ILoveMath62

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@Eddy119, I found this out in mid-March. There is no lines we can extend to get points we need later to save moves. I mean, we could check the in-origin version of 37 moves and see if it’s possible to optimize, but I just did so, it didn’t work either way. We could find an alternative to the 37 moves that is optimizable, if we can, because just like you said, you can only optimize so much. Haven’t found any so far.

@ILoveMath62

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39-gon, 56 moves, found a circle that already had the point required to make the star circle without adding another move.

@Ian-Zander

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i have 2 shapes that should work but dont
52-gon https://sciencevsmagic.net/geo/#0A1.1L0.1A2.1L3.3A2.3L4.4A2.4L5.5A2.5L6.6A2.6L7.7A2.7L8.2A1.0L10.10L33.33A32.33L41.2A0.41A45.41L76.7A42.N.76L8.8A100.103L105.8A108.108L119.105L100.124L125.117L100.100L132.108L131.131L141.125L140.140L159.132L159.159L171.141L171.171L184.117L103.103L195.124L194.194L208.119L207.207L223.195L223.223L237.208L237.237L251.251L184.8L118.8L116.116L106.106L278.106L104.106L296.118L277.277L318.296L317.317L346.278L346.346L369.318L369.369L393.104L297.118L104.104L417.116L416.416L440.297L439.439L465.417L464.464L491.440L491.491L517.465L517.517L543.543L393.8A270.543L8.N.572L591.591L573.8L517.8L131.8L491.8L140.8L464.8L159.8L439.8L171.8L416.8L184.573L676.676L686.686L700.700L708.708L715.715L729.729L739.739L753.753L762.762L778.778L571.8L592.8L667.8L678.678L685.667L675.592L251.8L699.8L707.8L711.8L728.8L738.8L752.8L761.8L777.572L777.777L761.761L752.752L738.738L728.711L714.714L728.714L707.707L699.699L685.685L675.574L675.574L592.592L571.8L546
62-gon
https://sciencevsmagic.net/geo/#0A1.1A0.0L1.1L5.5A0.5L8.8A0.8L11.11A0.11L14.14A0.14L17.17A0.17L20.20A0.20L23.23A0.23L26.1A4.4A1.0L59.62A0.59L77.77A0.77L92.92A0.92L107.107A0.107L120.120A0.120L133.116A114.133A142.133A114.133L157.157A170.157L173.170A157.178A157.182L181.170A184.184A170.204L205.209L26.23A1.N.26A275.278L279.279L285.26A285.293L275.275L305.285L304.304L315.279L275.275L324.278L296.279L323.324L314.314L337.305L336.336L351.315L350.350L366.337L365.365L384.351L383.383L407.366L406.406L431.384L430.430L450.407L449.449L470.431L469.469L491.450L490.490L512.470L512.512L535.491L535.535L559.293L278.278L581.323L580.580L603.296L602.602L626.581L625.625L650.603L649.649L675.626L674.674L703.650L702.702L746.675L745.745L776.703L775.775L805.746L804.804L835.776L834.834L866.805L865.865L897.835L897.897L931.866L931.931L965.965L559.300L26.26L565.565L1025.300L1012.N.1012L1024.1025L1011.1011L1108.1012L1107.1107L1151.1011L1024.1024L1189.1189L1150.1150L1234.1108L1233.1233L1281.1151L1280.1280L1329.1234L1328.1328L1378.1281L1377.1377L1429.1329L1428.1428L1495.1378L1494.1494L1549.1429L1548.1548L1602.1495L1601.1601L1655.1549L1654.1654L1710.1602L1709.1709L1766.1655L1765.1765L294.1024L1067.1189L1190.1025L1066.1066L1870.1190L1897.1897L1949.1067L1949.1949L2003.1949L1950.1898L2002.2002L2057.1950L2056.2056L2112.2003L2111.2111L2172.2057L2171.2171L2233.2112L2232.2232L2292.2172L2291.2291L2350.2233L2349.2349L2408.2292L2407.2407L2468.2350L2467.2467L295.2408L2529.2529L294.2468L1766.295L1710.N

@ILoveMath62

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Your 52-gon doesn't work because you're STUPIDLY bisecting the ENTIRE polygon which causes a DRAMATIC increase of local floating point change, causing offset points, causing the lines to be misshapen. I still don't understand why the 62-gon doesn't work. I tried to do it too, but it failed somewhat. (sighs) Well, I guess we're gonna have to take the tangent for the 62-gon. However, should it be easier to take the tangent for the 26-gon and then bisect the angle to get the 52-gon? I have mixed feelings about it, and, either way, it probably would work, anyways, we're gonna have to test it. Anyways, I guess the next challenge is the 55-gon!

@Ian-Zander

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It is quite rude to be calling me stupid. This isn't attempt one at the 52-gon. This is attempt 37 it have tried every method discussed up to this point; this was the closest I got. The 52-gon has been elusive for weeks, but I am going to continue attempting it.

@ILoveMath62

ILoveMath62 commented May 6, 2026

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Yeah, sorry about being rude, but you really need to learn how to make a polygon this way instead of bisecting almost every angle. This method you used for the 52-gon wastes an extreme amount of moves for polygons with this many sides, like how @Doomslug682 bisected the 16-gon to get a 32-gon in 64 moves. Bisecting the angle is far better and easier. I need to try the 69-gon: none of us have tried making it. By the way, the 51-gon has been a challenge for 6 years...

@ILoveMath62

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Circle pack 9, 26 moves

@ILoveMath62

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Here's a nonagon by approximating tan(50°) as 87/73. Relative error of 50° approximation: 0.0006446°

@ILoveMath62

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@ILoveMath62

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@ILoveMath62

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FINALLY!!!! The 67-gon has been made!!!!! 87 moves, I worked for 9 hours straight. Well that took forever. You know how hard this was? Well, I stayed up all night working on this; I got no sleep. I worked from 9 PM to 6 AM working on this. Without taking a SINGLE break. Phew. Well, I guess that 69-gon will require the tangent.

@Eddy119

Eddy119 commented Jun 20, 2026

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Good job with the 51-gon, I didn't want to do it because it's too tedious, if you finish this I think you can get it in 72 moves, it gives you 6*2pi/17 directly
https://sciencevsmagic.net/geo/#1A0.0A1.0L1.3L2.6A4.2L8.3L7.7L5.8A9.1L11.11L20.7L20.0L15.1L16.N.15A20.16A20.1L31.1L46.0A46.1A50.1L63.63A1.77L76.31L63.N.92A20.111L92.92L132.132L112.1L24.1A24.155A1.186L166.166L200.200L185.112L167.1A200.186L254.185L255.200L232.232L186.186L276.200L217.217L185.185L294.275L167.167L314.293L166.166L335.276L156.156L357.294L156.156L379.254L356.356L403.255L378.378L426

There might be more ways to save steps but I don't know

Edit: And in-origin would be hard because floating point arithmetic combines points

Edit 2: Yeah, I tried myself but couldn't, I don't know how you did it, good luck... Edit 2.1: regarding not taking breaks, I suggest you take breaks, or you might get health problems...

@Eddy119

Eddy119 commented Jun 20, 2026

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Well, it takes a while to load, but it seems to work,
Regular 51-gon: 72 moves

Edit: I should mention that I think this should theoretically be an exact 51-gon, not just an approximation.

@ILoveMath62

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Occ decagon: 20 moves (1 move saved)

@ILoveMath62

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I took the tangent for the 69-gon. 94 moves

@ILoveMath62

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Here's a 37-gon by approximating its tangent as 6/35.

@ILoveMath62

ILoveMath62 commented Jun 30, 2026

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@Eddy119, I made the 67-gon by approximating its tangent as 30/319.

Edit: And in-origin would be hard because floating point arithmetic combines points

Edit 2: Yeah, I tried myself but couldn't, I don't know how you did it, good luck... Edit 2.1: regarding not taking breaks, I suggest you take breaks, or you might get health problems...

@ILoveMath62

ILoveMath62 commented Jun 30, 2026

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I didn’t take breaks because I was so focused on it. I lost track of time completely. It felt like 75 minutes, when after that, it had actually been 9 hours. I didn’t even notice it had been so long! I was just trying and trying and trying and trying and then I realized that it was already daytime! 12:00 midnight passed way too fast. It felt like it passed in 25 minutes. It can be annoying, y’know. Maybe I could’ve settled for that and called it a morning. AH! That was a reference to Portal 1. My bad. (Anyways, if you find that interesting as a game, you can download it on your computer, or Nintendo Switch.) But believe me, last year, I spent 11 hours working from home without a break. That was from 7:30 PM to 6:30 AM. So yeah, this isn’t the first time I’ve been tunnel visioned into my computer screen for hours and hours. But it was worth it! Everyone has done that in their adult life at least twice. @Eddy119, tell me about the last time you did something like that…

@ILoveMath62

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@Ian-Zander

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I have updated the spreadsheet (link) if you have anything that needs adding let me know

@Ian-Zander

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23-gon in origin that took a bit

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