
Areas of circles and triangles
Perimeter of a triangle:
The perimeter of a triangle is the sum of its 3 sides.
In the following figure we have:
is the
of the triangle.
We have used the semi-perimeter of the triangle when we deomnstrated the Heron formula.
It is simply ![]()
The student learns to calculate perimeters to be able to tackle problems involving costs of fences for example.

Example:
A location has a form of a triangle. The three sides have measurements of 250ft, 185ft and 215 ft. A fence costing 7 dollars per linear foot has to be constructed around the location, leaving an entry of 5 ft. The company hired for the construction charges 6 dollars for each linear foot. What will be the total cost of the fence?
Solution:
The perimeter of the triangle:
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However, the entry of 5 ft will not get the fence.
We get:
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Total cost per foot:
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Total cost for constructing the fence:
dollars.
Area of a triangle:
The area of a triangle can be calculated using methods depending on information we have:
For a scalene triangle:
-Taking any altitude (as height, h) and its opposite side (as base, b).
The Area is:
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We can also write:
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For an isosceles triangle, given the three sides: a,a and b
We can calculate ![]()
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Finally:
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And the area of the triangle:
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If we use the Heron formula, we find the same formula
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In our situation
and ![]()
That means ![]()
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We get the following area:
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Finally:
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Special isosceles and right triangle:
In this situation we have :
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Without going far, we can notice that each of the right triangle legs can be the base (a) or the height (a):
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Using b:
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This can be found from the previous formula as well.
Equilateral Triangle
We have the nomrmal formula:
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Now for the area we have ![]()
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finally:
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Area Triangle using angles:
We can see that:
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So: ![]()
The Area:
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We can find all three relationships:
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Circumference of a circle
The Circumference
of a circle is as follows:
![]()
where
is the radius of the circle.
Since the diameter
, we can write:
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Areas and circumferences of circular figures can be calculated without replacing
with its value. That means in terms of
.
Length of an arc:

The length of an arc of a circle is related to the central angle
that intercepts it.
If
is in
, we have:
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For an angle in
, we use the proportion to the circumference:
The length of ![]()
This is the same as:
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Area of a Circle of radius r:

If
is the radius of a circle, the
is:
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This formula is widely used in geometry and other fields.
Area of a Sector AOB of a circle:

If
is the radius of a circle,
the central angle (or intercepted arc) in
, the
of
is:
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We simplify and get:
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If
the central angle (or intercepted arc) is in
:
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This is a simple conversion of
radians above. ![]()
Area of a segment of a circle

This can be approached 2 ways:
-Area of the sector minus area of isosceles triangle ![]()
-By deriving the formula.
The central angle’s bisector bisects the chord AB at D.
We get
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But ![]()
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OD is the altitude:
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But we know that:
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That returns:
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The Area of
is:
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We plug in:
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Finally:
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For sector AOB:
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We take the difference to get the area of the segment:
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