Area of a Circle Graded HW NAME:__________________

In this activity we will use our knowledge of limits to derive the formula for area of a
circle.

1. Given an isosceles triangle with vertex angle theta and the two equal sides are
length r, find expressions for :
a. The altitude

b. The base

c. The area

2. Sketch a circle of radius r and inscribe an equilateral triangle in it. Draw radii to
each vertex. You have now formed 3 congruent isosceles triangles. Using the
result from question1, find an expression for the area of the equilateral triangle in
terms of r.

By increasing the number of sides of the regular polygon inscribed in the circle, the area
of the polygon will approach the area of the circle.

3. Consider inscribing an n-sided regular polygon in a circle of radius r. Let n =

number of sides of the regular polygon. Find an expression for the area of the
polygon in terms of n and r by dividing the polygon into n congruent isosceles
triangles(to express theta in terms of n, remember to use radians).

4. Use your calculator to build a table of area values for n = 4, 5, 10, 15, 50, 100.
What appears to be the limit of the area function as n increases ?(r will be in each
expression for area)
5. Now it is time to do the limit algebraically. You will need an old trig formula from
last year: sin2x = 2sinx cosx or sinx cosx = __________. You will also need this
1 1
rewrite: lim n ® ¥ can be rewritten as lim x ® 0 x if x = . Your limit should
n n
resemble the result you obtained from your calculator.