GH-311 Circular Measure
GH-311 Circular Measure
GH-311 Circular Measure
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Version: 3.2
Date: 28-10-2014
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CIRCULAR MEASURE
Recall the following formulae:
Area of a circle is A = r2 where r is the radius.
Circumference of a circle is C = 2r where r is the radius (or d where d is the diameter).
For revision of simpler examples, check out Circles on the Foundation Tier study notes.
Example (1): A bicycle has a rev counter on its front wheel counting the number of revolutions made
from a starting point.
A cyclist resets the rev counter to zero before a trial race of 4km. The rev counter reads 1852 at the end
of the trial. What is the diameter of the front cycle wheel ? (Use the key on your calculator).
Here, 1852 revolutions = 4000m, so one revolution = 1 circumference =
Diameter of wheel =
2.160
4000
1852
m or 2.160m
Example (2): A circular ornamental lake in a park has a diameter of 38m. Work out its area, using the
key on your calculator.
We are given the diameter here, so we need to halve it first to obtain the radius, namely 19m.
The area is r2 , or 192 , or 361m2 or 1130 m2 to 3 s.f.
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360
of a circle.
We can therefore find the area of the sector by multiplying the area of the circle by
r 2
360
360
r
180
360
1225 54
360
cm2 or 577cm2.
r 2
360
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Example (5): A semicircular table top has a straight edge of 1.26 m. Calculate its area and perimeter,
giving answers to 3 significant figures.
A semicircle can be said to be a sector whose angle is 180, or half a circle, so the formula for the area
simplifies to
r 2
2
The straight edge of the table top is its diameter, so the radius is 0.63 m.
The area is
r 2
2
(0.632 )
= 0.623 m2.
r 2
4
r
2
(20) 2
4
Hence the area of the playing field = (3000 2600 + 314) m2 = 2914 m2.
The straight line sections of the playing field total 60 + 50 + (60 20) + (50 20) m, or 180 m.
The quarter-circular arc is
r
2
80 72
180
m or 100.5m.
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The segment.
A segment is a part of a circle bounded by a chord and an arc.
In the diagram, the line AB is the chord, and the curve AB is the
corresponding arc. (The chord is not a diameter, since it does
not pass through the centre O.)
The shaded region is the segment A, and it is a minor segment
because its area is less than half that of the circle. Conversely,
the unshaded region is a major segment since its area is more
than half that of the circle.
Example (8): Find the perimeter and area of the segment shown.
We are given the length of the chord AB and the radius, but not
the angle AOB.
To find this angle, we need to construct the isosceles triangle
AOB and use trig methods.
AM 4
, giving AOM = 53.1.
OA 5
5 106.3
180
cm or 9.3 cm,
r 2
360
or
25 106.26
360
Therefore:
Area of sector =
Area of isosceles triangle =
23.2 cm2
12.0cm2
11.2 cm2.
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Example (9): Find the area and perimeter of the segment shown on the right.
r 2
360
64 98
360
r
180
or
5 98
180
cm, or 8.55cm.
c 2 a 2 b 2 2ab cos C
Because a and b are both radii, we can simplify the formula to
c 2 2r 2 (1 cos C ) .
c 2 2r 2 2r 2 cos C