The circumradius of a cyclic polygon is a radius of the circle inside which the polygon can be inscribed. Similarly, the circumradius of a polyhedron is the radius of a circumsphere touching each of the polyhedron's vertices, if such a sphere exists. Every triangle and every tetrahedron has a circumradius, but not all polygons or polyhedra do. However, regular polygons and regular polyhedra possess a circumradius.
The following table summarizes the inradii from some nonregular circumscriptable polygons.
polygon | inradius |
3, 4, 5 triangle | |
30-60-90 triangle | |
diamond | |
golden rectangle | |
golden triangle | |
isosceles right triangle | |
isosceles triangle | |
rectangle | |
right triangle |
For a triangle with side lengths ,
,
and
,
(1)
| |||
(2)
|
where
is the semiperimeter.
The circumradius of a triangle is connected to other triangle quantities by a number of beautiful relations, including
(3)
| |||
(4)
| |||
(5)
|
where
is the inradius and
is the semiperimeter of
the reference triangle (Johnson 1929, pp. 189-191).
Let
be the distance between incenter
and circumcenter
,
.
Then
(6)
|
and
(7)
|
(Mackay 1886-1887; Casey 1888, pp. 74-75). These and many other identities are given in Johnson (1929, pp. 186-190).
This equation can also be expressed in terms of the radii of the three mutually tangent circles centered at the
triangle's vertices. Relabeling
the diagram for the Soddy circles with polygon
vertices ,
, and
and the radii
,
, and
, and using
(8)
| |||
(9)
| |||
(10)
|
then gives
(11)
|
The hypotenuse of a right triangle is a diameter of the triangle's circumcircle, so the circumradius is given by
(12)
|
where
is the hypotenuse.
The circumradius of a cyclic quadrilateral with side lengths ,
,
, and
and semiperimeter
is given by
(13)
|
The circumradius of a regular polygon with sides and side length
is given by
(14)
|
For a Platonic or Archimedean solid, the circumradius of the solid can be expressed in terms of the inradius
of the dual, midradius
, and edge length of the solid
as
(15)
| |||
(16)
|
and these radii obey
(17)
|