How To Find The Radius Of A Circle From A Chord

Dealing with parts of a circle, such as radius and chord, are tasks that you may face in high school and college trigonometry courses. You also may have to solve these types of equations in career fields such as engineering, design and landscaping. You can find the radius of a circle if you have the length and height of a chord of that circle.

Advertisement

Step 1

Multiply the height of the chord times four. For instance, if the height is two, multiply two times four to get eight.

Step 2

Square the length of the chord. If the length is four, for example, multiply four times four to get 16.

Advertisement

Step 3

Divide your answer from Step 2 by your answer from Step 1. In this example, 16 divided by eight is two.

Step 4

Add the height of the chord to your answer from Step 3. For example, two plus two equals four.

Step 5

Divide your answer from Step 4 by two to find the radius. Therefore in this instance, four divided by two equals two. The radius in this example is equal to two.

Things Needed

  • Calculator
  • Chord length and height measurements

Cite This Article

MLA

Johnson, Charlotte. "How To Find The Radius Of A Circle From A Chord" sciencing.com, https://www.sciencing.com/radius-circle-chord-5929711/. 24 April 2017.

APA

Johnson, Charlotte. (2017, April 24). How To Find The Radius Of A Circle From A Chord. sciencing.com. Retrieved from https://www.sciencing.com/radius-circle-chord-5929711/

Chicago

Johnson, Charlotte. How To Find The Radius Of A Circle From A Chord last modified March 24, 2022. https://www.sciencing.com/radius-circle-chord-5929711/

Recommended

Advertisement