Proving the area of

a circle = 𝜋𝑟 2
Consider the circle of

radius r .

Equation of the circle with

radius r:
𝑥2 + 𝑦2 = 𝑟2
Let’s begin our proof by
solving the above
equation for y:
𝑦 = 𝑟2 − 𝑥2
We will only
be using
the
highlighted
part of our
circle in our
proof.
Since we are only focusing on one part of our original circle, we must
remember to multiply what it is we are integrating by the number 4
(since there are a total of 4 parts to our circle).
𝑟

4 න 𝑟 2 − 𝑥 2 𝑑𝑥
0

Using a trigonometric substitution:

𝑥 = 𝑟 sin 𝜃
𝑑𝑥 = 𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 𝑑𝜃
Using substitution:
𝜋
2
4 න 𝑟 2 − 𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 2 ∗ 𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃𝑑𝜃
0

Let’s quickly acknowledge that our bounds for our integral have
changed, this is because we were originally dealing with x and we
have changed to dealing with theta.
 𝜋
2
4𝑟 න 1 − sin2 𝜃 ∗ 𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃𝑑𝜃
0
𝜋
2
4𝑟 2 න 1 − sin2 𝜃 ∗ 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃𝑑𝜃
0

We know that sin2 𝜃 + cos 2 𝜃 = 1.

𝜋
2
4𝑟 2 න cos 2 𝜃 ∗ 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃𝑑𝜃
0
𝜋
2
4𝑟 2 න cos 2 𝜃 𝑑𝜃
0

Here we must use a power reducing formula where:

2
1 + 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2𝜃
cos 𝜃 =
2
 𝜋
2
1 + 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2𝜃
4𝑟 2 න 𝑑𝜃
2
0
𝜋
2
2𝑟 2 න(1 + cos 2𝜃) 𝑑𝜃
0
𝜋
1
2𝑟 2 sin 2𝜃 + 𝜃 |02
2
2
1 𝜋
2𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜋 + − (0 + 0)
2 2
𝜋
2𝑟 2 (0 + )
2
𝜋
2𝑟 2 ( )
2
2
𝑟 (𝜋)
𝜋𝑟 2