Creating a regular six pointed star.

[Peter Rooney]

Good afternoon, fellow Publishers!

This is probably a real no brainer, but what I'm trying to do is create a
six pointed star using basic shapes. I created an equilateral triangle (15cm
wide by 12.99cm high - basic trig using sin(60) to work out the height,
copied it and flipped the copy upside down. I then aligned the left edges of
the two stars...and this is where the problem started. No matter how far up
or down I move one triangle in relation to the other, it just doesn't LOOK
right.

I need some sort of formula to say "given the height of the triangle, how
many cm down from the y origin of the first triange does the second triange
have to be?"

Unless of course someone can advise me as to how to get a six pointed star
from some other version of "basic shapes"

I use 2003 at work and 200 at home.

Thanks in advance

Pete

 

[Gary''s Student]

Start with a hexagon and extend the sides.

 

[JR]

Two options below "basic shapes" is on called "Stars and Banners". There is
a five point star within this option.

 

[Peter Rooney]

Gary's Student,

Apologies, I meant to post this in the Publisher forum, but now I'm
intrigued by your suggestion. I'll give it a go.

Cheers

Pete

 

[Peter Rooney]

JR,

Thanks for this!

pete

Two options below "basic shapes" is on called "Stars and Banners". There is
a five point star within this option.

 

[David Biddulph]

Good afternoon, fellow Publishers!

This is probably a real no brainer, but what I'm trying to do is create a
six pointed star using basic shapes. I created an equilateral triangle (15cm
wide by 12.99cm high - basic trig using sin(60) to work out the height,
copied it and flipped the copy upside down. I then aligned the left edges of
the two stars...and this is where the problem started. No matter how far up
or down I move one triangle in relation to the other, it just doesn't LOOK
right.

I need some sort of formula to say "given the height of the triangle, how
many cm down from the y origin of the first triange does the second triange
have to be?"

Unless of course someone can advise me as to how to get a six pointed star
from some other version of "basic shapes"

One third of the way down from the apex is where the base of the other
triangle should cross.

Or you can build your star from 12 equilateral triangles. You can regard it
as 6 in the central hexagon and one on each face of the hexagon, or 9 small
triangles in each of your two big triangles, the overlap between the two
being the six in the hexagon.
Or you can find the centre of your first triangle, draw a circumscribed
circle, & then slide your second triangle to fit in the same circle.

 

[B. R.Ramachandran]

Hi,

I am not sure whether this answers your question. But you can make a six
pointed star as an Excel X,Y scatter plot as outlined below.

In say A2-A14, enter numbers 0, 30, 60, 90, ... 360. (These are angles in
degrees).
Enter the width (side of the star) in a helper cell, say E2.
Use the following formulas in B2, C2, and D2.
In B2, =A2*pi()/180 (This converts angles to radians)
In C2, =IF(MOD(A2,60)=0,$E$2*cos(B2),sqrt(3)*$E$2*cos(B2))
In D2, =IF(MOD(A2,60)=0,$E$2*sin(B2),SQRT(3)*$E$2*sin(B2))

Drag the formulas down the columns to row 16.

Make an XY Scatter plot of Column C versus Column D. Format the patterns
under Data Series to No marker, and Automatic Line.
You would have to resize the graph to an appropriate aspect ratio for
getting a good, symmetric-looking, star on the monitor or for printing out.

Columns C and D give you the x,y (or y,x) coordinates for the six inner and
six outer corner-points of the star; you can use those values if you were to
manually plot the shape on graph paper.

If you want to rotate the star by 60 degrees, switch the column ranges for
the axes.

Regards,
B. R. Ramachandran

 

[Big Rick]

I will challenge anyone to follow that !

 

[swatsp0p]

I will challenge anyone to follow that !

OK.... see attached....

Pretty cool.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: star.JPG |
|Download: http://www.excelforum.com/attachment.php?postid=3886 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

[Peter Rooney]

Sorry, this came up with an "invalid link" message!

Pete

 

[Mangesh Yadav]

Nice one Bruce.

Peter, check the link:
http://www.excelforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3886

Mangesh

 

[swatsp0p]

Thanks, Mangesh, but all I did was follow the great instructions from B.
R. Ramachandran. B.R. gets all the credit! I'm impressed.

Cheers!

 

[Mangesh Yadav]

Yes thats also true.
Infact, I was refering to the challenge, even after the method was given
upfront.

Mangesh

 

[Big Rick]

I am pretty impressed, but when I said "follow that", I meant that someone
could come up with a 'more impressive' way of of creating the six pointed
star.

I was sure that all you genius' out there, could follow those instructions.

 

[swatsp0p]

Well, now, don't I feel sheepish... may be an international language
thing (don't know where Rick is from)... In the US we might say "Can
you top that?".

Anyway, I had never seen Excel charting used for such a task... it is
still pretty cool and cudos to B.R.

Cheers!