Suppose C is a compact subset of the plane having a piecewise smooth boundary AC. Let F(r, 0) be the Fourier transform, in polar coordinates, of the indicator function of the set C, where by the indicator function of C, we mean the function whose value on C is 1, and whose value on the complement of C is 0. In ?1 of this paper, we shall describe some relationships between geometric properties of C, and the asymptotic behavior of F(r, 0) as r -x- 00. In ?2, we shall give applications of the results of ?1 to some questions in the geometry of numbers. 1. If AC is sufficiently smooth, and has everywhere positive Gaussian curvature, it is known that the function 'D(6) = sup, r312IF(r, 0)1 is bounded on S' (cf. [1]). If AC has points of zero curvature, this need no longer be true (cf. [3]). The following, however, remains true: THEOREM 1. If AC is of class Cn + 3, for some integer n 1, and if the Gaussian curvature of AC is nonzero at all points of AC, with the possible exception of a finite set, at each point of which the tangent line has contact of order 1. Moreover, 'D(6) is always bounded, except in neighborhoods of those points of S' which, regarded as vectors, correspond to exterior or interior normals to AC at points of zero curvature. In a neighborhood of such a point 006 'D(6) is bounded by a multiple of [dist (6, 00)] -n - 1)/2n , where dist (6, 00) is the length of the smaller arc of S' connecting 0 and 6o, and nj is the largest order of contact which can occur between AC and its tangent line, at those points of AC at which the exterior normal is either 00 or- o REMARK. Theorem 1 has analogues in higher dimensions. I shall show in another paper, by different methods, that if C is a compact convex subset of Rn, whose boundary is analytic, and if F(r, 0) is the Fourier transform, in polar coordinates, of the indicator function of the set C, then supr r(n + 1)/21 F(r, 0)1 is of class LP on Sn1, for some p>2. If C is a polygon, the estimates are of a quite different character. THEOREM 2. Suppose C is a polygon. Then