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Geometry

Activity:

Area of a Circle

Posted on Apr 23, 2008

Topic: Circles

Students are introduced to capturing data to create a mathematical relationship between the area and radius of a circle. Students will explore the area of a circle numerically, graphically, and algebraically.

State Standards Alignment

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Activity Key Steps:

Students investigate the area of a circle by first constructing one and its radius. They then measure the area of the circle and the length of the radius.

These measurements should then be stored as variables. They repeat the process to store the area measurement as variables.

Students capture and record the values in a spreadsheet. They may then repeat the procedure to select another value to be the variable automatically captured into Column B.

Students graph the values captured and stored in the spreadsheet.

They then graph y=x² and transform it to fit their data.

Students then find the equation of the parabola. They will see it as y = 3.14(x)². Students then find the quadratic regression to verify their equation.

At the end of this activity, students will be able to verify the circumference and area formulas for a circle using technology.