Area of the square?
A hard-level "Area" problem.Chasing the side length is a dead end at elementary level. Switching to the diagonals is the key move.
GivenThe radius of the circle is 6 cm
Hints
- A square's area is "side × side", but this side length cannot be found with elementary arithmetic. So we switch our attention to the diagonals. Draw both of them.
- Look closely: both diagonals pass exactly through the centre of the circle.
- A line through the centre reaching from edge to edge is the diameter. The radius is 6 cm, so the diameter is 6 × 2 = 12 cm. Both diagonals are 12 cm.
- What is more, the two diagonals cross at right angles. That is always true for a square.
- Cutting along the diagonals gives four identical right triangles.
- Now fold those four outwards. They fit perfectly into the gaps.
- The result is a square with side 12 cm. So the red square is exactly half of this bigger square.
- In short, "diagonal × diagonal ÷ 2". 12 × 12 ÷ 2 is the answer.
Answer 72cm²
More "Area" problems
- Area of the inner triangle?
- Area of triangle DOA?
- Area of quadrilateral ABCD?
- Area of the overlap?
- Total area of the two crescents?
- Area swept by the square?