AREA OF A CIRCLE

CIRCLE

A circle is the set of points in a plane

that are equidistant from a given
point . The distance from the center
is called the radius, and the point is
called the center. Twice the radius is
known as the diameter . The angle a
circle subtends from its center is a
full angle, equal to or radians.

The perimeter of a circle is called the

circumference, and is given by

We have learned that the

area of a parallelogram is the product of its
base and its height, and the circumference of a
circle with radius is .

To find the area of a circle with radius , divide it into

congruent sectors (blue and red divisions) then arrange
them as shown below.

As the number of sectors increases, the shape

of the rearranged sector is becoming more and
more parallelogram-like.

Observe that as the number of sectors increases, the

shape of the rearranged sectors is becoming more and
more like a parallelogram. In fact, if we can divide the
circle into an infinite a number of sectors, it seems
that the shape of the rearranged sector is a
parallelogram. Assuming that this is true, then the
base of a parallelogram is r (Explain why.), and its
altitude is r.

Since the area of a parallelogram

is bh , we just have to multiply the
base of the parallelogram which is
r and its height which is r to find
its area. Therefore, the area of the
parallelogram, which is equal to
the area of a circle, is r2.

http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/circle/c
ircle.htm