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KidsMath
CircleGeometry
Skillsneeded:
Multiplication
BasicGeometry
Acircleisanimportantshapeingeometry.Therearecirclesallaroundusintherealworld.Wecanlearnalot
abouttherealworldandhowitworksbyunderstandingcircles.
First,whatistheofficialdefinitionofacircle?
Acircleisashapethatismadeupofallthepointsonaplane(aflatsurface)thatarethesamedistancefroma
givenpoint.

Whatdoesthatmean?
Okay,solet'sstartoutwiththe"givenpoint".Let'spickapointonaflatsurface,likethisscreen,forinstance.
We'llcallitpointP.
NowpickalltheotherpointsonthescreenthataretheexactsamedistanceRawayfrompointP.
Watchasweaddinequaldistancedpointsinthemoviebelow:


Wow,wegetacircle!

Termsusedincirclegeometry

RadiusTheradiusisthedistancefromthecenterpointtotheedgeofthecircle.
ThisisthesamedistanceRweusedtomakethecircleinourdefinition.

DiameterThediameterisastraightlinethatgoesacrossthecircleandthroughthe
center.It'stwicethelengthoftheradius.Thisgivesyouourfirstmathequationforthe
circle:

D=2xR
Also,

R=D/2
Sothediameteristwotimestheradiusandtheradiusisonehalfofthediameter.

CircumferenceThecircumferenceisthedistancearoundthecircle.Weusethe
followingformulatofigurethecircumference:

c=d*

Uhoh!Whatisthissymbol???
Thissymboliscalledpi.Itstandsforanumberthatweusewithcircles.Wewon'tgointothedetailsrightnow,
butlet'sjustagreetouseitandthatitworksfornow.Okay?

=3.14..
Thedecimalsactuallygoonforalongtime(forever),butwewillrounditoffto3.14.It'scloseenough.
BacktocircumferenceThereareafewhandyformulaswewilluse:

c=d*
c=2**r
Wherec=circumference,d=diameter,andr=radius.

OtherCircleGeometryterms

SectorAsectorisasectionofthecirclemadebytwodifferentradii.Sort
oflikeapieceofpizzaorpie.
ChordAchordisalinesegmentthatjoinstwopointsonthecircle.The
diameterisaspecialtypeofchordthatgoesthroughthecenterpointofthe
circle.

MoreGeometrySubjects
Circle
Polygons
Quadrilaterals
Triangles
PythagoreanTheorem
Perimeter
Slope

SurfaceArea
VolumeofaBoxorCube
VolumeandSurfaceAreaofaSphere
VolumeandSurfaceAreaofaCylinder
VolumeandSurfaceAreaofaCone
Anglesglossary
FiguresandShapesglossary

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