Construction of Regular 65,537-Gon/Historical Note

Historical Note on Construction of Regular $65 \, 537$-Gon

It was proved by Carl Friedrich Gauss in $1801$ that the construction is possible.

The first actual construction of a regular $65,537$-gon was attempted by Johann Gustav Hermes, who calculated the $384$ required quadratic equations in $1894$ after a decade of work. However, it has been suggested that there are mistakes in his work.


Sources

  • 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): $65,537$
  • 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $65,537$