Editing Polygon (section)

{{Short description|Plane figure bounded by line segments}}
{{Other uses}}
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[[File:Assorted polygons.svg|thumb|400px|right|Some polygons of different kinds: open (excluding its boundary), boundary only (excluding interior), closed (including both boundary and interior), and self-intersecting.]]
In [[geometry]], a '''polygon''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɒ|l|ɪ|ɡ|ɒ|n}}) is a [[plane (mathematics)|plane]] [[Shape|figure]] made up of [[line segment]]s connected to form a [[closed polygonal chain]].

The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its ''[[edge (geometry)|edges]]'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon's ''[[Vertex (geometry)|vertices]]'' or ''corners''. An '''''n''-gon''' is a polygon with ''n'' sides; for example, a [[triangle]] is a 3-gon.

A [[simple polygon]] is one which does not intersect itself. More precisely, the only allowed intersections among the line segments that make up the polygon are the shared endpoints of consecutive segments in the polygonal chain. A simple polygon is the boundary of a region of the plane that is called a ''solid polygon''. The interior of a solid polygon is its ''body'', also known as a '''''polygonal region''''' or '''''polygonal area'''''. In contexts where one is concerned only with simple and solid polygons, a ''polygon'' may refer only to a simple polygon or to a solid polygon. 

A polygonal chain may cross over itself, creating [[star polygon]]s and other [[list of self-intersecting polygons|self-intersecting polygons]]. Some sources also consider closed polygonal chains in [[Euclidean space]] to be a type of polygon (a [[skew polygon]]), even when the chain does not lie in a single plane.

A polygon is a 2-dimensional example of the more general [[polytope]] in any number of dimensions. There are many more [[#Generalizations|generalizations of polygons]] defined for different purposes.