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Last updated 22/9/2025

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This page includes information about constructing a regular octagon by the fold and one cut method.

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1872

The second 'expanded and improved' edition of 'Das Frobel'sche Faltblatt' (Frobel's Folding Sheet) ) by August Kohler, which was published by Hermann Bohlau in Weimar in 1872, contains a method of constructing a regular octagon.

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1873

Picture 24 of Plate XXIV of 'Die Praxis Des Kindergartens' by August Koehler, which was published by Herman Bohlau in Weimar in 1873, shows a series of geometrical / mathematical paperfolds, illustrates a regular octagon obtained by first folding each of the edges onto both diagonals in turn. thus producing the crease pattern shown above, and then folding in the corners to where the creases intersect. The folding instructions state that the 60/120 degree rhombus shown in Fig 15 is the basis of this figure, but this is an error. The basis is in fact the rhombus shown in Picture 6.

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1887

A method of constructing an octagon using a single cut appears in 'Le Travail Manuel a L'ecole Primaire' by M. Coste et J. Lapassade, which was published by Lafon, Vve Ribaut et Tonnet in Pau and A Jeande in Paris in 1887.

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1892

In 'Paper Folding and Cutting' by Katherine M Ball, which was published by the Prang Educational Company in Boston in 1892.

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In 'How to Teach Paper-Folding and Cutting' by Norma MacLeod, which was published by March Brothers in Lebanon, Ohio in 1892.

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1893

In 'Paper and Scissors in the Schoolroom' by Emily Weaver, which was published by Milton Bradley Company in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1893, contains a method of constructing a regular octagon from two squares.

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1894

In 'Old Glory: The Flag of Our Country: A Study in History and a Lesson in Paperfolding: Also Some Easy Lessons in Cutting and Folding' by Dr Albert Elias Maltby, which was published in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania in 1894.

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1897

A way of constructing a regular octagon from one square using another as a template appears in 'Pliage et Decoupage du Papier' by C Savineau, which was published by Librairie Hatchette et Cie in Paris in 1897.

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1900

A method of constructing a regular octagon from one square using another as a template appears in an article in El Monitor 331 of 30th September 1900.

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1913

'Trabajo Manual' by C Champy Alvear, which was published by Cabaut y Cia in Buenos Aires in 1913, provides five ways of obtaining a regular octagon by folding paper:

An octagon woven from a strip. Created by constructing a square in the centre.

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An octagon constructed by folding a square in half

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An octagon constructed by laying one square on top of another

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An octagon constructed from a blintzed square

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By folding up, then unfolding, a square

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1926

As a puzzle in 'Modern Puzzles' by Henry Ernest Dudeney, which was published by C. Arthur Pearson in London in 1926.

Solution

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1939

Two methods appear in 'Trabajo Manual Educativo' by Araminta V Aramburu, which was published by F Crespillo in Buenos Aires in 1939.

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1940

Two methods are given in 'El Plegado y Cartonaje en la Escuela Primaria' by Antonio M Luchia and Corina Luciani de Luchia, which was published by Editorial Kapelusz in Buenos Aires in 1940.

Construccion del Octagono (1) - from Two Squares

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Construccion del Octagono (2) - from a Single Square

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1944

In 'Origami Shuko' by Isao Honda, which was published in 1944.

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