PSAT Math : Circles

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for PSAT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #4 : How To Find Circumference

A car tire has a radius of 18 inches. When the tire has made 200 revolutions, how far has the car gone in feet?

Possible Answers:

3600π

500π

300π

600π

Correct answer:

600π

Explanation:

If the radius is 18 inches, the diameter is 3 feet. The circumference of the tire is therefore 3π by C=d(π). After 200 revolutions, the tire and car have gone 3π x 200 = 600π feet.

Example Question #1 : How To Find Circumference

A circle has the equation below. What is the circumference of the circle?

(x – 2)2 + (y + 3)2 = 9

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The radius is 3. Yielding a circumference of .

Example Question #8 : How To Find Circumference

6_equal_part-circle

If a circle (shown above) with area  is divided into 6 equal slices, what is the arc length of one of the slices?

Note: The above figure is not necessarily drawn to scale.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Begin by solving for the circumference of the circle. Use the area of the circle, which is given, and the equation for the area of a circle to determine the radius of the circle:

 = 

Divide both sides by .

 = 

Solve for :

The radius of the circle is 6. Now find the circumference.

Circumference is equal to 2 times the radius multiplied by .

Now that we have the circumference, divide by 6 to find the length of one of the slices of the circle:

The arc length of one of the slices of the circle is .

Example Question #301 : Basic Geometry

Ashley has a square room in her apartment that measures 81 square feet. What is the circumference of the largest circular area rug that she can fit in the space?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

In order to solve this question, first calculate the length of each side of the room. 

The length of each side of the room is also equal to the length of the diameter of the largest circular rug that can fit in the room. Since , the circumference is simply

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Area Of A Circle

If a circle has circumference , what is its area?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

If the circumference is , then since  we know . We further know that , so 

 

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Area Of A Circle

If the equation of a circle is (x – 7)+ (y + 1)= 81, what is the area of the circle?

Possible Answers:

49π

81π

18π

6561π

Correct answer:

81π

Explanation:

The equation is already in a circle equation, and the right side of the equation stands for r2 → r= 81 and r = 9

The area of a circle is πr2, so the area of this circle is 81π.

Example Question #1 : Radius

Assume π = 3.14

A man would like to put a circular whirlpool in his backyard. He would like the whirlpool to be six feet wide. His backyard is 8 feet long by 7 feet wide. By state regulation, in order to put a whirlpool in a backyard space, the space must be 1.5 times bigger than the pool. Can the man legally install the whirlpool? 

Possible Answers:

No, because the area of the whirlpool is 42.39 square feet and 1.5 times its area would be greater than the area of the backyard.

No, because the area of the backyard is 30 square feet and therefore the whirlpool is too big to meet the legal requirement.

Yes, because the area of the whirlpool is 18.84 square feet and 1.5 times its area would be less than the area of the backyard.

No, because the area of the backyard is smaller than the area of the whirlpool. 

Yes, because the area of the whirlpool is 28.26 square feet and 1.5 times its area would be less than the area of the backyard.

Correct answer:

Yes, because the area of the whirlpool is 28.26 square feet and 1.5 times its area would be less than the area of the backyard.

Explanation:

If you answered that the whirlpool’s area is 18.84 feet and therefore fits, you are incorrect because 18.84 is the circumference of the whirlpool, not the area.

If you answered that the area of the whirlpool is 56.52 feet, you multiplied the area of the whirlpool by 1.5 and assumed that that was the correct area, not the legal limit.

If you answered that the area of the backyard was smaller than the area of the whirlpool, you did not calculate area correctly.

And if you thought the area of the backyard was 30 feet, you found the perimeter of the backyard, not the area.

The correct answer is that the area of the whirlpool is 28.26 feet and, when multiplied by 1.5 = 42.39, which is smaller than the area of the backyard, which is 56 square feet. 

Example Question #1 : Radius

There are two identical circles on a plane that overlap. The radius of both circles is 1. The region in which they overlap has an area of π.

What is the total area of the 2 overlapping circles?

Possible Answers:

2π

2

π

0

1

Correct answer:

π

Explanation:

The total area of both circles is π + π = 2π

Since the region overlaps, we cannot count it twice, so we must subtract it.

we get 2π – π = π

Example Question #541 : Act Math

A square with a side length of 4 inches is inscribed in a circle, as shown below. What is the area of the unshaded region inside of the circle, in square inches?

 Act_math_01

Possible Answers:

8π-4

2π-4

4π-4

8π - 16

8π-8

Correct answer:

8π - 16

Explanation:

Using the Pythagorean Theorem, the diameter of the circle (also the diagonal of the square) can be found to be 4√2.  Thus, the radius of the circle is half of the diameter, or 2√2.  The area of the circle is then π(2√2)2, which equals 8π.  Next, the area of the square must be subtracted from the entire circle, yielding an area of 8π-16 square inches.

Example Question #51 : Circles

If a circle has a circumference of 16π, what would its area be if its radius were halved?

 

 

Possible Answers:

16π

64π

Correct answer:

16π

Explanation:

The circumference of a circle = πd where d = diameter.  Therefore, this circle’s diameter must equal 16.  Knowing that diameter = 2 times the radius, we can determine that the radius of this circle = 8.  Halving the radius would give us a new radius of 4.  To find the area of this new circle, use the formula A=πr² where r = radius.  Plug in 4 for r.  Area will equal 16π.

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