CoM | The Algebraic Pentagon

Sunday, September 21, 2025
 – Live Presentation with
Colin Wright–

Session at 12 Noon Atlanta time
(check your time here)

Please join us starting 10 minutes before this session using the following button.

For published CoM presentations please visit the G4G YouTube channel

After this virtual CoM presentation on Zoom, we will meet for an informal social session in a different Zoom space where we can all see each other (see the blue button below).  That Zoom meeting will start around 1pm ET.

Please join the social using the following button:

The Algebraic Pentagon

Most people know how to use a compass and straight-edge to construct a regular hexagon, and by taking every other vertex we have a regular triangle. If you can construct a perpendicular bisector then you can get a square, and then double the number of sides of anything you’ve got so far.

If you look on the internet you can find how to construct a regular pentagon and other shapes, but how do you know they are perfect?

In this talk we’ll visit the complex numbers and derive a practical construction for the regular pentagon. Or Two.

Have a compass to hand and play along!

Dr. Colin Wright achieved a PhD from the University of Cambridge in Pure Mathematics, specializing in Graph Theory and Combinatorics, under the supervision of Bela Bollobas. Oddly enough, even though Béla has an Erdos Number of 1, and Colin’s Erdos Number is 2, Colin and Béla have never co-authored. The path from Colin to Erdős goes via Ron Graham. See the Paul Erdos page for more information about this amazing man. You can also see a portion of Colins Mathematical Ancestry.
Colin was also unreasonably delighted to discover that he has an Erdős Number of the second kind, and it’s just 3. This goes via Graham Brightwell and Béla_Bollobás.
Dr Colin Wright is co-founder of Solipsys Limited, and is the presenter of the popular mathematics and science talks. He is particularly well-known for his talk in Juggling and how mathematics turns up unexpectedly. He is a former President of the Liverpool Mathematical Society and current board member of Gathering 4 Gardner.

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