Finger pushing
weather icon 83°F


Colorado nothing close to a rectangle, analysis shows

Colorado nothing close to a rectangle, analysis shows

Colorado is one of the most boring states in the country when it comes to appearance on the map – or so you thought. To most, the state looks like a rectangle, so much so that the “Colorado-shaped” cutting board literally looks like a normal cutting board (pretty sure they used the same design for Wyoming, too). Despite popular belief, Colorado is actually not a rectangle with four sides. It’s what you’d call a hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon and it’s got 697 sides.

According to Big Think, zooming in on Colorado’s state lines reveal a number of angles and bends. While Colorado is so rectangular in appearance that the southern border is just 22 miles longer than the northern border, errors made by early surveyors resulted in zig zags. Keep in mind that these surveyors didn’t have modern day technology in the late-1800s.

See one of these odd angles below near Chromo, Colorado along the border shared with New Mexico.

Colorado nothing close to a rectangle, analysis shows

Map Credit: @2019 Google Maps

Colorado nothing close to a rectangle, analysis shows

Map Credit: @2019 Google Maps



Can you find more odd angles on Google Maps? Give it a try.

Tags Noconnatix


Welcome Back.

Streak: 9 days i

Stories you've missed since your last login:

Stories you've saved for later:

Recommended stories based on your interests:

Edit my interests