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A circular tour of some circle theorems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Nick Lord
Affiliation:
Tonbridge School, Kent TN9 1JP
David Wells
Affiliation:
19 Menelik Road, London NW2 3RJ

Extract

The following theorem about circles (which can be traced back at least as far as Archimedes) does not seem to be widely known and may be used to “pep-up” a discussion of circle theorems.

THEOREM. Let two chords of a circle meet at P and make a fixed angle θ (radians, say) with each other. Then the sum of the (opposite) arc lengths, L + L′, is independent of the position of P inside the circle (and thus, taking P at the centre, this sum equals 2, where r is the radius of the circle).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1989

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