Circle
A circle is a geometric figure commonly used in Euclidean geometry.
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A basic circle. |
Contents
[hide]Traditional Definition
A circle is defined as the set (or locus) of points in a plane with an equal distance from a fixed point. The fixed point is called the center and the distance from the center to a point on the circle is called the radius.
Coordinate Definition
Using the traditional definition of a circle, we can find the general form of the equation of a circle on the coordinate plane given its radius, , and center . We know that each point, , on the circle which we want to identify is a distance from . Using the distance formula, this gives which is more commonly written as
Example: The equation represents the circle with center and radius 5 units.
Area of a Circle
The area of a circle is where is the mathematical constant pi and is the radius.
Archimedes' Proof
We shall explore two of the Greek mathematician Archimedes demonstrations of the area of a circle. The first is much more intuitive.
Archimedes envisioned cutting a circle up into many little wedges (think of slices of pizza). Then these wedges were placed side by side as shown below:
As these slices are made infinitely thin, the little green arcs in the diagram will become the blue line and the figure will approach the shape of a rectangle with length and width thus making its area .
Archimedes also came up with a brilliant proof of the area of a circle by using the proof technique of reductio ad absurdum.
Archimedes' actual claim was that a circle with radius and circumference had an area equivalent to the area of a right triangle with base and height . First let the area of the circle be and the area of the triangle be . We have three cases then.
Case 1: The circle's area is greater than the triangle's area.
Case 2: The triangle's area is greater than the circle's area.
Case 3: The circle's area is equal to the triangle's area.
Assume that . Let be the area of a regular polygon that is closest to the circle's area. Therefore we have so . Let the apothem be and the perimeter be so the area of a regular polygon is one half of the product of the perimeter and apothem. The perimeter is less than the circumference so and the apothem is less than the radius so . Therefore . However it cannot be both and . So .
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Proof Using Calculus
Let the circle in question be , where r is the circle's radius. By symmetry, the circle's area is four times the area in the first quadrant. The area in the first quadrant can be computed using a definite integral from 0 to r of the function . Using the substitution gives the indefinite integral as , so the definite integral equals . Multiplying by four gives the area of the circle as .
Related Formulae
- The area of a circle with radius is .
- The circumference of a circle with radius is .
Other Properties and Definitions
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A circle with a tangent and a chord marked. |
- A line that touches a circle at only one point is called the tangent of that circle. Note that any point on a circle can have only one tangent.
- A line segment that has endpoints on the circle is called the chord of the circle. If the chord is extended to a line, that line is called a secant of the circle.
- The measure of an inscribed angle is always half the measure of the central angle with the same endpoints.
- Chords, secants, and tangents have the following properties:
- The perpendicular bisector of a chord is always a diameter of the circle.
- The perpendicular line through the tangent where it touches the circle is a diameter of the circle.
- The Power of a point theorem.
Other interesting properties are:
- A right triangle inscribed in a circle has a hypotenuse that is a diameter of the circle.
- Any angle formed by the two endpoints of a diameter of the circle and a third distinct point on the circle as the vertex is a right angle.
Problems
Introductory
- Under what constraints is the circumference (in inches) of a circle greater than its area (in square inches)?
Intermediate
- Circles with centers and have radii 3 and 8, respectively. A common internal tangent intersects the circles at and , respectively. Lines and intersect at , and . What is ?
(Source)
- Let
- and
. What is the ratio of the area of to the area of ?
(Source)
Olympiad
- Consider a circle , and a point outside it. The tangent lines from meet at and , respectively. Let be the midpoint of . The perpendicular bisector of meets in a point lying inside the triangle . intersects at , and meets in a point lying outside the triangle . If is parallel to , show that is the centroid of the triangle .
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