Supposea circlehas a radiusof units.
The scalefactorof this circleand the one in the diagramand tableabove,with radius , is ,
or just.- You knowhow a scalefactoraffectsarea measures.If the scalefactoris , then the area is times
as much.This meansthat if the area of a circlewith radius is , then the area of a circlewith radius is.
Areaof a CircleFormulaLet be the radiusof a circle,and the area.You probablynoticedthat the reasoningaboutareahere is very similarto the reasoningin an earlierlesson
whenwe exploredtheperimeterof polygonsand thecircumferenceof circles.
Example 1
A circleis inscribedin a square.Eachside of the squareis cm long.Whatis the area of the circle?Use. The lengthof a side of the squareis also the diameterof the circle.The radiusis.The area is.Areaof a Sector
The area of a sectoris simplyan appropriatefractionalpart of the area of the circle.Supposea sectorof a
circlewith radius and circumference has an arc with a degreemeasureof and an arc lengthof
units.