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Circular Measure (Math)

The document discusses various properties of circles: 1. A circle has symmetry about any diameter and rotational symmetry about its center. The perpendicular bisector of a chord passes through the center. 2. Equal chords are equidistant from the center. Two tangents drawn from the same external point are of equal length. 3. Several angle relationships are described, including a semicircle forming a right angle, the tangent and radius forming a right angle, the angle at the center being twice the angle at the circumference, and properties of cyclic quadrilaterals.

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71 views

Circular Measure (Math)

The document discusses various properties of circles: 1. A circle has symmetry about any diameter and rotational symmetry about its center. The perpendicular bisector of a chord passes through the center. 2. Equal chords are equidistant from the center. Two tangents drawn from the same external point are of equal length. 3. Several angle relationships are described, including a semicircle forming a right angle, the tangent and radius forming a right angle, the angle at the center being twice the angle at the circumference, and properties of cyclic quadrilaterals.

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Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Properties of a circle –

Symmetry (Chapter 19)


IGCSE Mathematics
Recap – What
are the parts
of a circle?
• A circle has line symmetry about any
diameter, and it has rotational symmetry
about its center
Symmetry • The perpendicular bisector of a chord passes
properties of through the center.
• Equal chords are equidistant from the center
circles
• Two tangents drawn to a circle from the
same point outside the circle are equal in
length.
• This States that: The perpendicular bisector
of a chord passes through the center.

• The perpendicular bisector of chord AB is


Property 1 equidistant from A and B.
• But since A and B are on the circumference
of the circle, they are also equidistant from
the center, and therefore are radii.
Example
Try it out! Solve for the
side CB
• The way to solve the question is simply
by using the Pythagorean theorem!
• Since MCB forms a right-angled triangle,
by using Pythagoras theorem you can
solve for the side CB by subtracting the
squares of the hypotenuse (MB) and
side (MC), giving 200^2 – 120^2 =
25600
• Finally, by rooting the answer we get
the answer 160cm, therefore BC is
160Cm
Property 2
• If chords AB and CD are the same
length, then OM = ON, and vice
versa.
• This is true because triangle OAM
is congruent to triangle ODN and
because the circle has rotational
symmetry about its center, O.
Sample question
• O is the center of the circle, radius
11 cm. AB and CD are chords, AB =
14 cm. If OX = OY, find the length of
OY correct to 2 decimal places

Answer:
• Since OX = OY, chords are equidistant so, AB
= CD = 14 cm CY = YD = 7 cm
• OY^2 = 11^2 – 7^2 = 72
• Therefore OY = 8.49 cm.
Property 3
Two tangents drawn to a
circle from the same point
outside the circle are equal
in length.
A and B are the points of
contact of the tangents
drawn from P. The result is
PA = PB.
Sample question

• Find the length of x and y in this diagram correct


to 2 decimal places where appropriate

Answer:

NM = PM = 25 cm
Y^2 = X^2 + NO^2
Y= 27.73
• There are multiple angle relationships that
can be found in circles, we’ll look at:
• a semi-circle having a right angle (90°)
Angle • tangent and radius forming a right angle
relationships • angle at the center of, and at circumference
in circles • Cyclic quadrilaterals.
• Alternate segment theorem
A semi-circle
having a right angle
(90°)
• This property simply states that
an angle created when a triangle
is made by connecting the
diameter to any point on the
circumference, is always a right
angle.
The angle between
the tangent and
radius
• This property shows that when a
tangent meets the radius of the
circle, they are perpendicular,
hence angles a and b are both 90-
degree, right angles.
The angle at the center
of, and at circumference
• This property states that the angle
created from 2 points to the
center of the circle will always be 2
times the size of an angle created
using the same 2 points GIVEN
that the point used is on the
circumference and in the MAJOR
sector.
• This also proves that, using the
same 2 points, any angle created
by connecting to a point on the
circumference will always create
the same angle GIVEN they are in
the same segment.
The opposite angles of a cyclical
quadrilateral add up to 180
• A cyclical quadrilateral is a 4-sided polygon created with
all its vertices on the circumference of the circle.
• These properties state that the opposite angles of a cyclic
quadrilateral add up to 180, and consecutively, an angle
is equal to the exterior angle of its opposite angle (x = a
and a = c)
Alternate
segment theorem
• The alternate segment theorem
states that the angle between
the tangent and chord is always
equal to the angle in the
alternate segment.

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