A convex polygon has an incircle if and only if all of its internal angle bisectors are concurrent. This common point is the incenter (the center of the incircle).1
There exists a tangential polygon of n sequential sides a1, ..., an if and only if the system of equations
has a solution (x1, ..., xn) in positive reals.2 If such a solution exists, then x1, ..., xn are the tangent lengths of the polygon (the lengths from the vertices to the points where the incircle is tangent to the sides).
If the number of sides n is odd, then for any given set of sidelengths a 1 , … , a n {\displaystyle a_{1},\dots ,a_{n}} satisfying the existence criterion above there is only one tangential polygon. But if n is even there are an infinitude of them.3: p. 389 For example, in the quadrilateral case where all sides are equal we can have a rhombus with any value of the acute angles, and all rhombi are tangential to an incircle.
If the n sides of a tangential polygon are a1, ..., an, the inradius (radius of the incircle) is4
where K is the area of the polygon and s is the semiperimeter. (Since all triangles are tangential, this formula applies to all triangles.)
While all triangles are tangential to some circle, a triangle is called the tangential triangle of a reference triangle if the tangencies of the tangential triangle with the circle are also the vertices of the reference triangle.
Main article: Tangential quadrilateral
Owen Byer, Felix Lazebnik and Deirdre Smeltzer, Methods for Euclidean Geometry, Mathematical Association of America, 2010, p. 77. /wiki/Deirdre_Smeltzer ↩
Dušan Djukić, Vladimir Janković, Ivan Matić, Nikola Petrović, The IMO Compendium, Springer, 2006, p. 561. ↩
Hess, Albrecht (2014), "On a circle containing the incenters of tangential quadrilaterals" (PDF), Forum Geometricorum, 14: 389–396. http://forumgeom.fau.edu/FG2014volume14/FG201437.pdf ↩
Alsina, Claudi and Nelsen, Roger, Icons of Mathematics. An exploration of twenty key images, Mathematical Association of America, 2011, p. 125. /wiki/Icons_of_Mathematics ↩
De Villiers, Michael. "Equiangular cyclic and equilateral circumscribed polygons," Mathematical Gazette 95, March 2011, 102–107. /wiki/Mathematical_Gazette ↩
Tom M. Apostol and Mamikon A. Mnatsakanian (December 2004). "Figures Circumscribing Circles" (PDF). American Mathematical Monthly. 111 (10): 853–863. doi:10.2307/4145094. JSTOR 4145094. Retrieved 6 April 2016. http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/images/upload_library/22/Ford/Apostol853-863.pdf ↩
Apostol, Tom (December 2005). "erratum". American Mathematical Monthly. 112 (10): 946. doi:10.1080/00029890.2005.11920274. S2CID 218547110. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩