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Circle

nc e
fe re
m
u

Acircleiseasytomake:

Ci

Circle

Center

s
iu
d
Ra

Drawacurvethatis"radius"away
fromacentralpoint.

Andso:

Allpointsarethesamedistancefromthecenter.

You Can Draw It Yourself

Putapininaboard,putaloopofstringaroundit,andinsertapencil
intotheloop.Keepthestringstretchedanddrawthecircle!

Dragapoint!

Play With It
Trydraggingthepointtoseehowtheradiusand
cirfcumferencechange.

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Radius, Diameter and Circumference

https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/circle.html

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Circle

Rad
ius

Circumference
Diameter

Cir
c

12/15/2016

Dia
me
ter

f
um

e renc e

3.14159...

TheRadiusisthedistancefromthecenteroutwards.
TheDiametergoesstraightacrossthecircle,throughthecenter.
TheCircumferenceisthedistanceoncearoundthecircle.
Andhereisthereallycoolthing:

Whenwedividethecircumferencebythediameterweget
3.141592654...
whichisthenumber( Pi )

Sowhenthediameteris1,thecircumferenceis3.141592654...

Wecansay:

Circumference=Diameter
Example:Youwalkaroundacirclewhichhasadiameterof100m,how
farhaveyouwalked?
Distancewalked=Circumference=100m
=314m(tothenearestm)

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Circle

AlsonotethattheDiameteristwicetheRadius:

Diameter=2Radius
Andsothisisalsotrue:

Circumference=2Radius

Remembering
Thelengthofthewordsmayhelpyouremember:
Radiusistheshortestword
Diameterislonger(andis2Radius)
Circumferenceisthelongest(andisDiameter)

Definition
Thecircleisa plane shape(twodimensional):

Andthedefinitionofacircleis:

The setofallpoints onaplanethatareafixeddistancefromacenter.

Area
Area =

radius 2
Rad
ius

Area =

Diameter 2

r
ete
m
Dia

The areaofacircle is timestheradiussquared,whichiswritten:

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12/15/2016

Circle

A=r2

Tohelpyourememberthink"PieAreSquared"
(eventhoughpiesareusuallyround)
Or,usingtheDiameter:

A=(/4)D2

Example:Whatistheareaofacirclewithradiusof1.2m?
A=r2
A=1.2 2
A=(1.21.2)
A=3.14159...1.44=4.52(to2decimals)

AreaComparedtoaSquare
5%

5%

80%

(Approx)

5%

5%

Acirclehasabout80%oftheareaofasimilarwidthsquare.
Theactualvalueis(/4)=0.785398...=78.5398...%

Names

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Circle

Names
Becausepeoplehavestudiedcirclesforthousandsofyearsspecialnameshavecomeabout.
Nobodywantstosay"thatlinethatstartsatonesideofthecircle,goesthroughthecenterand
endsontheotherside"whenawordlike"Diameter"willdo.
Soherearethemostcommonspecialnames:
rd
Cho

ter
Diame

Ar
c

Tang
ent

Center

Lines
Alinethatgoesfromonepointtoanotheronthecircle's
circumferenceiscalledaChord.
IfthatlinepassesthroughthecenteritiscalledaDiameter.
Alinethat"justtouches"thecircleasitpassesbyiscalleda

Tangent.
AndapartofthecircumferenceiscalledanArc.

Slices
Sector

The"pizza"sliceiscalleda Sector .

Se
gm
en
t

Therearetwomain"slices"ofacircle.

Andtheslicemadebyachordiscalleda Segment .

Common Sectors
TheQuadrantandSemicirclearetwospecialtypesofSector:
QuarterofacircleiscalledaQuadrant.
HalfacircleiscalledaSemicircle.

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Circle

le
irc
ic
m
se

nt
a
dr
ua
Q

Inside and Outside

Acirclehasaninsideandanoutside(ofcourse!).Butitalsohasan
"on",becausewecouldberightonthecircle.
Example:"A"isoutsidethecircle,"B"isinsidethecircleand"C"ison
thecircle.

Question1Question2Question3Question4Question5
Question6Question7Question8Question9Question10

Activity:ApproximateValueForPi

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