SAT Math : Circles

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Math

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store varsity tutors ibooks store

Example Questions

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Length Of The Diameter

The perimeter of a circle is 36 π.  What is the diameter of the circle?

Possible Answers:

3

18

72

6

36

Correct answer:

36

Explanation:

The perimeter of a circle = 2 πr = πd

Therefore d = 36

Example Question #282 : Plane Geometry

Sat_math_picture

If the area of the circle touching the square in the picture above is , what is the closest value to the area of the square?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Obtain the radius of the circle from the area.

Split the square up into 4 triangles by connecting opposite corners. These triangles will have a right angle at the center of the square, formed by two radii of the circle, and two 45-degree angles at the square's corners. Because you have a 45-45-90 triangle, you can calculate the sides of the triangles to be , , and . The radii of the circle (from the center to the corners of the square) will be 9. The hypotenuse (side of the square) must be .

The area of the square is then .

Example Question #41 : Circles

Two legs of a right triangle measure 3 and 4, respectively. What is the area of the circle that circumscribes the triangle? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For the circle to contain all 3 vertices, the hypotenuse must be the diameter of the circle. The hypotenuse, and therefore the diameter, is 5, since this must be a 3-4-5 right triangle.

The equation for the area of a circle is A = πr2.

Example Question #5 : Diameter

The circumference of the circle is .  What is the diameter?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Write the formula for the circumference.

Substitute the circumference.

Example Question #6 : Diameter

Find the diameter of a circle whose area is .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve, simply use the formula for the area of a circle to find the radius, and then multiply it by 2 to find the diameter. Thus,

Example Question #5 : How To Find The Length Of The Diameter

Find the length of the diameter given radius of 1.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve, simply use the formula for the diameter of a circle. Thus,

Example Question #291 : Geometry

Find the length of the diameter given the radius is 5.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve, simply use the formula for the diameter of a circle

where r is 5. Thus,

Remember, the diameter is the longest distance across a circle, and since the radius is 5, you can simply double that. Thus, the answer is 10.

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Length Of The Diameter

Find the diameter of a circle given the radius is 6.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve, simply use the formula for the diameter of circle.

Remember, since the diameter is distance between two points on opposite sides of the circle, you simply double the radius. No pi is involved in diameter, only in circumference, area, etc.

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Length Of The Diameter

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

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Remember that the circumference of a circle is given by  and the area is given by 

If the circumference of this circle if one half its area, then we can say . Or, 

We can solve this equation for r like so:

Since the diameter of a circle is twice its radius, then the diameter of this circle is 8. 

To check your answer, plug in r=4 into the circumference and area formulas. You will see that the area of this circle is  and its circumference is , which is exactly half its area. 

Example Question #292 : Sat Mathematics

The area of a circle is . Find the diameter. 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The formula for the area of a circle is

with r being the length of the radius.

Since we know that the area of the circle is

we can solve for r and get 12. (Do so by canceling out the two pi's and taking the square root of 144). Once we know the radius, we can easily find the diameter, since the diameter is twice the length of the radius. Therefore, the diameter is 24, as

Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors