Inscribed and circumscribed polygons

When you use the polygon command, you are presented with the inscribed and circumscribed options, so before we dig deeper into the polygon tool, let's understand what inscribed and circumscribed geometries are.

In the following diagram, the first polygon is inscribed in a circle with a radius equal to the length of the green line. In this case, the vertices of the polygon are touching the circumference of the circle.

In the second case, the polygon is circumscribed about the circle, which has a radius equal to the length of the green line and in this case, the midpoints of the sides of the polygon are touching the circumference of the circle:

When making polygons, AutoCAD will prompt you to specify the radius of the polygon, which is essentially the radius of the inscribed or circumscribed polygon. The type of polygon that you need to make depends on the dimensions provided in the drawing.