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A regular polygon with eight sides, each of length $s>0$, has areaJoin its center to all eight vertices of a polygon. The resulting congruent isosceles triangles each have base $s$ and central angle $\pi /4$. Bisecting one gives a right triangle with opposite side $s/2$ and adjacent side $h$, the perpendicular center-to-side distance. HenceAdding the eight triangle areas gives $A=8(sh/2)=4sh$, proving the formula. For side length one, the area is $2+2\sqrt{2}$.

Call the centre of the circle $O$, the left endpoint on the diameter $A$, the point of tangency $T$, and the external intersection $E$. Since $OA=OT$ are radii, the isosceles triangle $AOT$ has equal base angles: $\angle OAT=\angle ATO=30^{\circ }$. Therefore $\angle AOT=120^{\circ }$, and, because $OA$ and $OE$ point in opposite directions, $\angle TOE=60^{\circ }$. The tangent to a circle $TE$ is perpendicular to the radius $OT$, so in the right triangle $OTE$,

Follow the branch of a light ray that undergoes one internal specular reflection in the spherical drop. At entry, refraction turns its direction by $\alpha -\beta$. The internal specular reflection turns it by $\pi -2\beta$, because the radius is the normal vector and the incidence and reflection angles are both $\beta$. At exit the second refraction contributes another $\alpha -\beta$. Thus the total deviation angle isSnell's law at entry gives $\sin \alpha =n\sin \beta$, taking the surrounding air's refractive index as one. The same internal angle at successive encounters follows from the isosceles triangles formed by each chord and the two radii. Internal specular reflection here need not be total internal reflection; the transmitted branch at that encounter does not belong to the one-reflection trajectory.