Circle

A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry that is the set of all points in the plane that are equidistant from a given point, the centre. The distance between any of the points and the centre is called the radius.

A circle is a simple closed curve which divides the plane into two regions: an interior and an exterior. In everyday use, the term "circle" may be used interchangeably to refer to either the boundary of the figure, or to the whole figure including its interior; in strict technical usage, the circle is the former and the latter is called a disk.

A circle can be defined as the curve traced out by a point that moves so that its distance from a given point is constant.

A circle may also be defined as a special ellipse in which the two foci are coincident and the eccentricity is 0. Circles are conic sections attained when a right circular cone is intersected by a plane perpendicular to the axis of the cone.


Read more about Circle:  Terminology, History, Properties, Circle of Apollonius, Circles Inscribed in Or Circumscribed About Other Figures, Circle As Limiting Case of Other Figures

Famous quotes containing the word circle:

    Sense is a line, the mind is a circle. Sense is like a line which is the flux of a point running out from itself, but intellect like a circle that keeps within itself.
    Ralph J. Cudworth (1617–1688)

    They will mark the stone-battlements
    And the circle of them
    With a bright stain.
    They will cast out the dead
    A sight for Priam’s queen to lament
    And her frightened daughters.
    Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)

    we are the circle of the crazy ladies
    who sit in the lounge of the mental house
    and smile at the smiling woman
    who passes us each a bell,
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)