You have just learned how to calculate the radius of a circle given its centre and a particular point on the circle.
| ![[CIRCLE at (0,0) with (x, y) marked]](images/circ00noxyt.gif) |
You'll use this to learn how to derive the equation of a circle centred at the origin with radius r. |
Since the distance from the centre (0, 0) to any point (x, y) is the radius, r, we can use the distance formula to write:
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(x - 0)2 + (y - 0)2 | = r |
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Square both sides of the equation to get
(x - 0)2 + (y - 0)2 = r2. |
Because subtracting 0 from any number makes no change to the number, we can write the equation of a circle centred at the origin as:x2 + y2 = r2 |
How can the Pythagorean Theorem be used to derive this equation? |
Now that you have derived the standard equation for circles centred at the origin, use the questions below to practice interpretting the information contained in this standard equation.
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