GMAT Math : Circles

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GMAT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #91 : Geometry

The area of a given circle is . What is the diameter of the circle?

Possible Answers:

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Correct answer:

Explanation:

The area  of a circle is defined by the equation , where  is the length of the circle's radius. The radius, in turn, is defined by the equation , where  is the length of the circle's diameter. 

Given , we can deduce that  and therefore . Then, since .

Example Question #3 : Diameter

While SCUBA diving, Dirk uncovers a strange circular rock formation. He estimates the area of the circular formation to be . Help Dirk find the diameter of the surface.

 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

While SCUBA diving, Dirk uncovers a strange circular rock formation. He estimates the area of the circular formation to be . Help Dirk find the diameter of the surface.

Recall the formula for area of a circle:

Since we know A, we can solve for r

Rearranging and simplifing gets our radius to be:

We are almost there, but we have one more step to go. We need to double the radius to get the diameter...

Example Question #10 : Calculating The Length Of The Diameter

What is the diameter of a circle with an area of 

Possible Answers:

 

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The area of a circle can be represented by the equation:

Therefore:

Since the diameter is twice the radius, 

Example Question #92 : Geometry

If an ecologist is measuring species composition using a circular region with an area of , what is the diameter of the region?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

If an ecologist is measuring species composition using a circular region with an area of , what is the diameter of the region?

Recall the formula for the area of a circle:

We also know that r, the radius, is half the length of the diameter. Therefore, if we can find the radius, we can find the diameter:

Example Question #1 : Calculating The Ratio Of Diameter And Circumference

For any circle, what is the ratio of its circumference to its diameter?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

In order to calculate the ratio of circumference to diameter, we need an equation that involves both variables. The formula for circumference is as follows:

We need to express the radius in terms of diameter. The radius of a circle is half of its diameter, so we can rewrite the formula as:

If we divide both sides by the diameter, on the left side we will have , which is the ratio of circumference to diameter:

So, for any circle, the ratio of its circumference to its diameter is equal to , which is actually the definition of this very important mathematical constant.

Example Question #2 : Calculating The Ratio Of Diameter And Circumference

For any given circle, what is the ratio of its diameter to its circumference?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find the ratio between the diameter and the circumference of a circle, we need to use the formula for the circumference of a circle:

We can see this formula is in terms of radius, so we need to express it in a way that the circumference is in terms of diameter. Using the knowledge that the radius is half of the diameter:

Now that we have a simple formula involving the circumference and diameter, we can see that we will have the ratio of diameter to circumference if we divide both sides by the circumference. We then divide both sides by  to isolate the ratio of diameter to circumference and find our solution:

Example Question #3 : Calculating The Ratio Of Diameter And Circumference

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The circle with center , is inscribed in the square . What is the ratio of the diameter to the circumference of the circle given that the square has an area of ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To calculate the ratio of the diameter to the circumference of the square we should first get the diameter, which is the same as the length of a side of the sqaure. To do so we just need to take the square root of the area of the square, which is 4. Also we should remember that the circumference is given by , where  is the length of the radius.

Now we should notice that this formula can also be written .

The ratio we are looking for is . Therefore, this ratio will always be  and this is our final answer.

Example Question #1 : Calculating The Ratio Of Diameter And Circumference

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Equilateral triangle  is inscribed in a circle. The perimeter of the triangle is . What is the radius of the circle? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The perimeter of the circle allows us to find the side of equilateral triangle ABC;  or 2.

From there, we can also find the length of the height of equilateral triangle ABC with the formula , which turns out to be .

Since in an equilateral triangle, the center of gravity is at  from any vertex, it follows that the radius of the circle is 

Example Question #3 : Calculating The Ratio Of Diameter And Circumference

A given circle has a circumference of  and a radius of . What is the ratio of the circle's circumference to its diameter?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For a given circle of circumference  and radius .

Since the radius  of a circle is equal to half of the circle's diameter , we can then define  as

 

Therefore, the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of this and all other circles is .

Example Question #2 : Calculating The Ratio Of Diameter And Circumference

A given circle has a circumference of  and a radius of . What is the ratio of the circle's circumference to its diameter?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For a given circle of circumference  and radius .

Since the radius  of a circle is equal to half of the circle's diameter , we can then define  as 

Therefore, the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of this and all other circles is,

 .

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