15/05/2017 geometryCalculatetheradiusofacirclegiventhechordlengthandheightofasegmentMathematicsStackExchange

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Calculatetheradiusofacirclegiventhechordlengthandheightofasegment

Ihavea(circular)segmentofknownheightandknownchordlength.Isispossibletodeterminetheradius
ofthecircle?

Anyhelpmuchappreciated.

(geometry ) (circle) (arclength)

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 .

Let = UV andh = XP .ItfollowsthatU X = XV =

1

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

Byrearranging(1)asq = r h ,substituter hforqinequation(2)

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

Pleaseseethis tutorialonhowtoformatmathematicsonthissite. N.F.Taussig Mar5'15at14:53

Hereisthesolutionusingtrigonometry

Considergiventheheighth = DE andthehalflengtha = DB .ThetriangleADBproduces

thefollowingtwoequations

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

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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
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thissite(theassociationbonusdoesnotcount).

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