Octagon or Hexagon?

Not to be stereotypical or racist but I thought most Asian countries were ahead of American students in the math arena and I may be a "stupid" American but I really think that whoever it is in China that designed this foam mat might need to brush up on their Geometry. Of course it did take me two years to notice it! Also, it was probably a matter of something getting lost in translation. From listening to James talk about his daily communications (at work as a design engineer) with China, it probably went something like this:

American Company Designer: I want this list of objects printed on the foam with these corresponding 26 capital alphabet letter and for the remaining two pieces of foam we will just put some shapes on it for filler.
Chinese Company Employee: No problem!

Two weeks later:
Chinese Company Employee: I can't open these graphics with our illegally copied software. We will replace them with something we can find over here.
American Company Designer: As long as it is similar.
Chinese Company Employee: No problem!