Scribd
Upload
21 views3 pages

Understanding Circle Terminology

A circle is defined as all points in a plane that are a fixed distance from a central point. The radius is the distance from the center to the edge, and the diameter is twice the radius. The circumference is equal to pi times the diameter. The area of a circle is equal to pi times the radius squared. A circle has special names for its components, such as diameter, chord, and sector.

Uploaded by

Hi Khor
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
21 views3 pages

Understanding Circle Terminology

A circle is defined as all points in a plane that are a fixed distance from a central point. The radius is the distance from the center to the edge, and the diameter is twice the radius. The circumference is equal to pi times the diameter. The area of a circle is equal to pi times the radius squared. A circle has special names for its components, such as diameter, chord, and sector.

Uploaded by

Hi Khor
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Circle

A circle is easy to make:

Draw a curve that is "radius" away


from a central point.
And so:

All points are the same distance from the


center.

You Can Draw It Yourself


Put a pin in a board, put a loop of string around it, and insert a pencil into the
loop. Keep the string stretched and draw the circle!

Also, the circle is a plane shape (two dimensional).

Definition
In fact the definition of a circle is:
The set of all points on a plane that are a fixed distance from a center.

Radius and Diameter


The Radius is the distance from the center to the edge.
The Diameter starts at one side of the circle, goes through the
center and ends on the other side.
So the Diameter is twice the Radius:

Diameter = 2 Radius

Circumference
The Circumference is the distance around the edge of the circle.

It is exactly Pi (the symbol is ) times the Diameter, so:

Circumference =

Diameter

And so these are also true:

Circumference = 2

Radius

Circumference / Diameter =

Area
The area of a circle is

times the Radius

squared, which is written:

A=

Or, in terms of the Diameter:

A = (/4) D2
It is easy to remember if you think of the
area of the square that the circle would fit
inside.

Names
Because people have studied circles for thousands of years special names have come about.
Nobody wants to say "that line that starts at one side of the circle, goes through the center
and ends on the other side" when a word like "Diameter" would do.
So here are the most common special names:

Lines
A line that goes from one point to another on the circle's
circumference is called a Chord.
If that line passes through the center it is called a Diameter.
If a line "just touches" the circle as it passes it is called
aTangent.
And a part of the circumference is called an Arc.

Slices
There are two main "slices" of a circle
The "pizza" slice is called a Sector.
And the slice made by a chord is called a Segment.

Common Sectors
The Quadrant and Semicircle are two special types of Sector:
Quarter of a circle is called a Quadrant.
Half a circle is called a Semicircle.

Inside and Outside


A circle has an inside and an outside (of course!). But it also has an "on",
because you could be right on the circle.
Example: "A" is outside the circle, "B" is inside the circle and "C" is on the
circle.

You might also like