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Calculatetheradiusofacirclegiventhechordlengthandheightofasegment
Ihavea(circular)segmentofknownheightandknownchordlength.Isispossibletodeterminetheradius
ofthecircle?
Anyhelpmuchappreciated.
editedOct8'16at13:57 askedNov12'13at16:23
IrregularUser user108308
2,772 5 13 39 26 1 1 2
5Answers
WecanapplytheIntersectingChordsTheorem.
YouchordlengthisthelengthU V andthesegmentheightisthelengthP X .
TheintersectingchordstheoremtellsusthatXP XQ = XU XV .
2
.TheICTthen
tellsusthat
1 1
= h XQ ,
2 2
i.e.XQ =
1
4h
2
.ThediameterP Q = P X + XQ and
2 2 2
4h +
P X + XQ = h + =
4h 4h
Theradiusisthenonehalfofthis,i.e.
2 2
4h +
CQ = .
8h
editedMay17'14at6:55 answeredDec13'13at16:25
john FlybyNight
4,692 7 22 22.3k 2 21 63
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/564058/calculatetheradiusofacirclegiventhechordlengthandheightofasegment 1/3
15/05/2017 geometryCalculatetheradiusofacirclegiventhechordlengthandheightofasegmentMathematicsStackExchange
Thisproblemcanbesolvedasfollows.Therearetwoknownsandtwounknowns.Thetwo
knownsarethechordlengthU V (l )andthechordheightXP (h).Thetwounknownsarethe
radius(P C orr )andXC whichispartoftheradius.Letscallthisq.Iusedthedrawingand
symbolsfromthefirstanswertotheproblem.
Wecanwritetwodistinctequationsusingthetwoknownsandtwounknowns,sowecansolve
thisproblem:
(1)h + q = r
(2)UsingthePythagoreantheorem,( l
2
2
) + q
2
= r
2
.ToseethisdrawalinefromC toV (this
distanceisr ofcourse).SinceP C bisectsU V ,theangleC XV mustbearightangle,sothe
Pythagoreantheoremapplies
Withoutgoingthroughallthemath,youcansolveequation(2)forr
Thesolutionis:
2
l 2
( ) + h
2
r =
2h
or
2
l 2
+ h
4
r =
2h
Multiplynumeratoranddenominatorby4andyougetthesameansweraspreviously
submitted
editedMar5'15at14:52 answeredMar5'15at14:43
N.F.Taussig SteveNied
21.4k 7 22 40 21 2
Hereisthesolutionusingtrigonometry
a = r sin
r h = r cos
wherer istheunknownradius,andistheincludedhalfangle(denotedonpointAabove)
Ifthesetwoequationsaresquaredandaddedtogethertheymake
2 2 2 2 2
a + (r h) = (r sin ) + (r cos ) = r
Thesolutiontothisis
2 2
a + h
r =
2h
answeredMar5'15at15:32
ja72
5,752 12 34
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/564058/calculatetheradiusofacirclegiventhechordlengthandheightofasegment 2/3
15/05/2017 geometryCalculatetheradiusofacirclegiventhechordlengthandheightofasegmentMathematicsStackExchange
Anytwocordsthatintersectwithinthesamecirclewillcreatetwoequalarearectanglesifyou
multiplythetwosegmentsofthesamecordtogether,thesegmentscreatedbytheintersection
oftheothersecondcord.
Givenonecordandcreatingasecondimaginarycordthatintersectsthegivencordatthemid
pointandalsointersectsthecirclescenter,wecanfindthediameterofthecircle.Theheightof
thecircularsegmentbecomesoneofthesegmentsofthesecondimaginarycord.Wecansolve
thesecondsegmentbydividingthesquareofthegiventwosegmentsbytheheightofthe
circularsegment.Theheightofthecircularsegmentisoneofthesegmentsofourimaginary
createdcord.Ifweaddthembothtogethertheycreatethediameterlengthofthecircle.
(1/2cord)^2/circularsegmentheight,equalsthediameterifyouaddtheheightofthe
circularsegmenttoit.Ifyouwanttheradiusjustdividethediameterby2.
Sincerely,
WilliamMcCormick
answeredNov21'16at6:08
WilliamMcCormick
11 1
Ihavebeenexploringthedesignofcertainchurchdoorwaysfromthemid1700'sandthis
problemcameup.Itriedtothinkofhowtheymighthavesolvedthisproblembackthenand
cameupwiththefollowingsolution:
Drawalongverticalline.Measureandmarkhfromthetop.Drawahorizontallineequaltol
centeredonthatpoint.Takeyourcompasswiththesharpendmovingdowntheverticalline
andexpandituntilitscribesanarcthatincludesthetopofthehorizontallineandtheendof
theverticallines.Measurethatlengthandyougettheradius.
Mathisapowerfulinterpretivelanguagetodescribecertainthings,butitisnotthosethings.
It'sinterestingtospeculatehowthemasonsofthosedayssolvedthesecomplexproblemswith
littleornoknowledgeofthecalculationsthatwewouldusetoday.
editedJan20at2:53 answeredJan19at4:13
BillSimons
22 6
protectedbyCommunity May5at4:18
Thankyouforyourinterestinthisquestion.Becauseithasattractedlowqualityorspamanswersthathadtoberemoved,postingananswernowrequires10reputationon
thissite(theassociationbonusdoesnotcount).
Wouldyouliketoansweroneoftheseunansweredquestionsinstead?
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