GCSE/KS3 :: Area &

Circumference of Circles
jamie@drfrostmaths.com
@DrFrostMaths

Objectives: Be able to find the area and circumference of circles,

simple fractions of circles, and compound shapes involving circles.
(This resource is intended for both Foundation and Higher Tier students)

Last modified: 13th March 2020

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Circles

Seemingly obvious question (but not):

How would you define a circle?
(warning: your definition has to apply to circles only!)

same distance

centre

Circle: a collection/set of
points all the same distance
from a fixed centre.
Circle Key Terms

! The perimeter of a ! The radius of a circle is a

circle is known as the line between its centre and its
circumference. circumference.

 The diameter is a full line

connecting opposite points
on the circumference the

rad
circle, through the centre.

s iu
centre

diameter

Important Point: The term ‘radius’ can refer to the line itself
or the length of the line. So you could say “the radius is 3cm”
or “the length of the radius is 3cm” to mean the same thing.
The same applies with the circumference and the diameter.
Circumference of a circle
Experiment: Using a compass, draw a circle or any size you like.
(a) Measure the diameter of your circle (the distance across your
circle, ensuring your ruler passes the centre of your circle).
(b) By gradually rotating your ruler, estimate the
Teacher Note: If you
perimeter/circumference of your circle. have it available, this
(c) Divide your answer to (b) by your answer to (a). That is, how would work better
many times bigger is the circumference of your circle than with string.
the diameter? Compare your estimate with your neighbours!

? How many times

diameter
3.1415926535
bigger… …
 Circumference of a circle
and a bit So if we were to take the
1 time diameter…
3 times
and bend it around the
circumference of the
circle, we could fit it
diameter around the circle…

The circumference is 3.1415 times

longer than the diameter.
There is a special constant in
2 times mathematics which has this value:

It is helpful for you to memorise to 2

This is the Greek decimal places (3.14).
letter “pi”. The digits of go on forever without

𝜋=𝟑.𝟏𝟒𝟏𝟓𝟗𝟐𝟔𝟓𝟑𝟓 … repeating. It’s a common memory

challenge to try and memorise the
digits of pi. The Guinness World Record
was set in 2005, where one Chinese
In maths, a constant is a value which does not change. Other man recited 68,000 digits of pi!
common constants in maths are (the Golden Ratio) and (Euler’s
number). This is in contrast to a variable, whose value can vary.
Circumference of a circle

! Circumference of circle
𝑑
?
𝑟
where is the
Noting that the
diameter.
diameter is twice
the radius.
Examples

Determine the circumference of the circle.

8m
m ?
We used the formula. But we could have halved the Use the button to get
diameter of 8m to get a radius of 4m, then used your answer as a
using the formula instead. decimal.

Determine the circumference of the circle.

3cm
cm ?
 Test Your Understanding So Far

Easier Harder

?
Exact vs Decimal Answers

8
Determine the circumference of the circle.

When you typed into your calculator, it gave you an

answer of . We had to press the key in order to get the
answer as a decimal.
That’s because “8 lots of ” is an acceptable answer, just like we
might write “” to mean “8 lots of ”. This is known as an answer
in exact form, because there is no error.

But with the decimal form (25.1327…), we have to

round it in order to write it down, because the digits go
on forever! This means our answer won’t be exact!

• Exact Form: e.g. Advantage: A pure ‘exact’ result.

• Decimal Form: e.g. 25.1 m Advantage: More useful in
practical
settings, e.g. physical measurements.
Test Your Understanding

Determine the circumference of

5 the circle in:
(a) Exact form
(b) Decimal form, to 2dp

a ?
b 31.42 ?
 Exercise 1 Questions on provided worksheet

1 Find the circumference of the 3 A car wheel of diameter 35cm spins on a road.
following circles, giving your answer The car moves forward 2000cm.
(a) What is the circumference of the wheel?
to 1 decimal place. cm ?
(b) How many full rotations will the wheel
a b
3cm 8cm have made?
times
?
4 A circular lawn has radius 10m. I encircle the
cm ? cm ? lawn with a hedge, which costs £35 per metre.
What is the total cost, to the nearest pound?
c 7.2m
d
?
6.4m 5 The radius of the Earth is 6371km. Light can
travel 300,000km each second. How many
times can light encircle the Earth in a second?
m
? cm ? times
?
2 And give your answer in exact form: 6 The circumference of a circle is 100cm.
What is its:
a b (c) Diameter cm ?
7 16 (d) Radius cm ?

𝐶 =𝟏𝟒?𝝅 𝐶 =𝟏𝟔?𝝅 (Continued on next slide…)

Exercise 1 Questions on provided worksheet

7 [Edexcel GCSE March2013-2H Q5] Jon has a flower garden in

the shape of a circle. The diameter of the garden is 5 metres.

Jon wants to put fencing around the edge of the garden. The
fencing costs £1.80 per metre.

Work out the total cost of the fencing.

?
8 [Edexcel IGCSE Jan2017-1F Q17, Jan2017-3H Q4]
The diagram shows a design made from wire.
The design is made from a square with side 70 cm,
a circle with diameter 40 cm, 4 straight pieces each
of length 15 cm.

Find the total length of wire needed for the design.

Give your answer correct to the nearest centimetre.

?
Exercise 1 Questions on provided worksheet

9 [Edexcel GCSE June2007-4I Q13b] The diameter of a wheel on

Harry’s bicycle is 0.65 m. Harry cycles 1000 metres.
Calculate the number of turns the wheel makes.

[Edexcel GCSE Nov2014-2F Q26, Nov2014-2H Q11] Saphia is

10 organising a conference.
People at the conference will sit at circular tables. Each table
has a diameter of 140 cm.
Each person needs around 60 cm around the circumference
of the table.
There are 12 of these tables in the conference room. A total
of 90 people will be at the conference. Are there enough ?
tables in the conference room?

As the radius of a circle increases, which graph shows how

N the circumference increases?
𝐶 𝐶 𝐶 𝐶
?
Solution:
(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) i
𝑟 𝑟 𝑟 𝑟
Area of a circle
Suppose we have a circle of radius .

If we ‘circumscribe’ the circle with Side length of square

a square, what would be its side ?
Area of square
length, and hence what would be
its area?
Area of a circle

Now let’s ‘inscribe’ the circle with a It’s half the area,
square. What fraction of the area of the ? is
so area of this square
outer square () is the area of the inner
square? And therefore, what is the area of
this inner square?
Area of a circle

The area of the circle has to be somewhere between the area of the outer
square and the inner square.

So how many lots of is the area of the circle? It’s in fact…?!!!

Area of a circle

! Area of circle
𝑟

Example: Find the area of a circle where cm, giving

your answer to 1 decimal place.
Fro Note: By BIDMAS, “” means “” and not ,
i.e. we square the radius first and then

cm2 ? multiply by .
Further Examples

4.6 cm
Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

Area cm2 ?

Give your answers in exact form.

16 Area ?
Test Your Understanding

(Give your answer to 1 decimal place)

3cm
Area cm2 ?

8m Area m2 ?
Game!
Everyone stand up. Each of you will be asked, one at a time, and in your head, to find
either the area () or the circumference () of a circle. Answer must be in exact form.

If you get it wrong, you sit down, and the person who last sat down has the
opportunity to ‘steal’, where they will be able to stand up again if they correct the
answer.

Example
Reminder:

𝐶 =8 ?𝜋

Your teacher may impose a time limit per question.

Game!

1 1 6 4 4 5

? 𝐶 =2?𝜋 𝐴=9?𝜋 𝐶 =4 ?𝜋 𝐴=4 ?𝜋 𝐴=25

𝐴= 𝜋 ?𝜋

8 7 12 7 10 18

𝐶 =8?𝜋 𝐶 =14? 𝜋 𝐴=36? 𝜋 𝐴=49? 𝜋 𝐶 =20? 𝜋𝐴=81? 𝜋

3 17 9 14 3 11

𝐴=9?𝜋 𝐶=17? 𝜋 𝐶 =18? 𝜋 𝐴=49? 𝜋 𝐶 =3?𝜋 𝐶 =22? 𝜋

(Slide note: You can press anywhere or use the right key to advance)
Game!

8 7 4 5 18 4

𝐴=64? 𝜋 𝐶=14?𝜋 𝐴=4?𝜋 𝐶 =5?𝜋 𝐴=81? 𝜋 𝐴=16? 𝜋

15 13 14 2 15 22

𝐶=15? 𝜋 𝐶 =26? 𝜋 𝐴=49? 𝜋 𝐴=4? 𝜋 𝐶 =30? 𝜋𝐴=121

? 𝜋

12 1 5 20 19 8

? 𝐶 =10? 𝜋𝐴=100
𝐴=144? 𝜋𝐶 = 𝜋 ? 𝜋 𝐶=19? 𝜋 𝐶 =16? 𝜋
 Exercise 2 Questions on provided worksheet

1 Find the area of the following circles, 3 A circular lawn has radius 50m. Each box of
giving your answer to 1dp. grass seed costs £5.99 and covers 60m of
2

lawn. What is the cost to seed the whole

lawn?
a b m2
3cm 8cm boxes
?
cm2 ? cm2 ? 4 [Edexcel GCSE Nov2008-2F Q27, 4H Q6]
A circle has a radius of 6 cm. A square has a
side of length 12 cm. Work out the difference
c d between the area of the circle and the area of
7.2m
the square. Give your answer correct to one
6.4m decimal place. ?
30.9 cm2

m2 ? cm2? 5
The area of a circular disc is 100cm2. What is

2 Find the area, giving your answer in

its diameter? cm
?
exact form: N As the radius of a circle increases, which graph
shows how the area increases?
a b
7 16
(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) iii
?
Solution:

𝐴= 𝟒𝟗?𝝅 𝐴=𝟔𝟒?𝝅 𝑟 𝑟 𝑟 𝑟
Fractions of circles
In this lesson we’ll deal with ‘simple’ fractions of a
circle, e.g. semicircles and quarter circles.

Determine the area of this quarter circle, giving

your answer in exact form.

Area
?

6 We just need to find the area of a full

circle, then divide it by 4, as we only
have a quarter of a circle.
Fractions of circles
Recall that the perimeter of a shape is the total of all the edge
lengths. For the shape below, we have quarter of the
circumference of a circle, but also the two straight edges.

Perimeter

6 Terminology Note: We don’t use the

term ‘circumference’ for the perimeter
here, because it’s (a) not a full circle and
(b) includes straight edges.
A few more examples
Give answers in exact form.

Area

Perimeter ?
8
?

Area

Perimeter ?

?
10 The diameter is 10,
therefore the radius is 5.
Test Your Understanding
i Give your answer to 1dp.
Area
cm2
?
Perimeter
cm
?
7cm

ii Give your answer in exact form.

Area
16
Perimeter
?

?
 Exercise 3
1 Find the area and perimeter of the 3 Give exact answers.
2
following, giving your answers to 1dp. a b
a b 6cm 1

5cm

?𝝅 ?𝝅
𝑨= 𝑨=
? ?
?𝟐
cm2 cm2
cm ? cm ? ?𝟒
c d 4 Fred Flintstone’s car has two different wheels: one
3.7m circular in shape and the other semi-circular. The
diameter of the semi-circular wheel is 1.3m. What radius
is needed for the circular wheel so that the wheels make
5.3m the same number of full circulations over any journey?
m2 ? m2 ? (Give your answer to 3dp)
m ? m ? ?
Solution: 0.532m

2 Give exact answers.

12
a b
10

1.3m

? ?
𝑨=𝟐𝟓 𝝅 𝑨=𝟏𝟖 𝝅
Additive and Subtractive Methods
We can find the area of compound shapes by adding areas together, or by starting
with a shape that is too large and ‘cutting out’ an area from it.

12m Additive method:

(i.e. adding areas)

m2 ?
7m

13m
Subtractive method:
(i.e. subtracting areas)
12m
Start with a large rectangle and
13m
6m
? a rectangle from this:
subtract
8m
m2

4m
Additive Method Examples
A B

10m
8m 6m

10m
8m
Area of triangle:
m2
Area of square:
Total area m2 ? ?
C 25m
Area of triangle:

Area of quarter circle:

10m 10m ?
Total m2
10m
Test Your Understanding
30m
i
Rectangle:
10m
Circle: ?
Total m2

ii
14m

Rectangle:
DEATH Trapezium:
12m 8m Semicircle: ?
LASER Total m2

25m
Subtractive Method Examples
What is the area of the black region in each case? (expressed exactly)

8
20

10
10

? 𝝅
𝐴=𝟔𝟒 −𝟏𝟔 𝐴=𝟐𝟎− 𝟓𝟎
? 𝝅
If the diameter is 20
We start with a square and the radius is 10, and
hence the height of
‘cut out’ (subtract) the circle the rectangle 10.
to leave the corners.
Test Your Understanding
8
i
Exact area of black region:
4 ?

Bro Tip: Try and combine parts of circles

to form full circles where possible.

ii [JMO 2015 A5] Two circles of radius 1 cm fit

exactly between two parallel lines, as shown in 1cm
the diagram. The centres of the circles are 3
3cm
cm apart. What is the area of the shaded
region bounded by the circles and the lines?

Solution: Cut two half circles (i.e. one full

?
circle) out of a rectangle, i.e. The brackets ensures the unit of ‘cm2’
cm2 applies to the 6 rather than just the
(BIDMAS applies to units as well!)
Extension :: A More Interesting One…

How would you find this shaded area?

1 We can start with a quarter circle,
which has area .
We than cut out a triangle with base 1
and height 1. Its area is
The area is therefore:?

1
What about this?
It’s just twice the area before:
?

Fro Note: Maths Challenge/Olympiad enthusiasts

take note – these two shapes are quite common!
Extension :: Cutting and Reforming
We have seen we can add areas and subtract areas.
But a third way we can sometimes use is to cut the shape up, and put it back
together in such a way that gives us a simpler shape.

[IMC 2004 Q12] This figure is made from a

straight line 16cm long and two quarter circles,
one with its centre at the midpoint of the
straight line. What is the area of the figure (in
cm2)?
A 64 B
C D
E

8cm
? Answer: A ?
Extension :: Test Your Understanding

[JMO 2014 A4] The figure shows two shapes

that fit together exactly. Each shape is
formed by four semicircles of radius 1. What
is the total shaded area?

? Area
2
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

1 [Edexcel IGCSE June2011-3H

Q15a] Here is a shape made
from a rectangle and a
semicircle.
The length of the rectangle is
7.1 cm. The radius of the
semicircle is 2.7 cm. Work out
the area of the shape.
Give your answer correct to 3
significant figures.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

2 [Edexcel GCSE(9-1) Mock Set 1 Autumn

2016 3F Q24a, 3H Q7a] A garden is in
the shape of a rectangle, , and a
semicircle. is the diameter of the
semicircle.
Carol is going to cover the garden with
fertiliser. A box of fertiliser costs £4.99.
Carol has been told that one box of
fertiliser will cover 12 m of garden.
Work out the cost of buying enough
fertiliser to cover the garden
completely.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

3 [Edexcel GCSE Nov2012-1H

Q12] The diagram shows a
circle drawn inside a square.

The circle has a radius of 6

cm. The square has a side of
length 12 cm. Work out the
shaded area. Give your
answer in terms of .

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

4 [OCR GCSE June 2016 2F Q19]

This diagram shows a circle
inside a square. The radius of
the circle is 7 cm.
The length of a side of the
square is 14 cm. Calculate the
shaded area.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

5 [Edexcel IGCSE May2014(R)-4H Q5]

The diagram shows a metal plate in the
shape of a rectangle. The rectangle has
length 20 cm and width 12 cm. Two
identical circles, each of diameter 6 cm,
have been cut out of the plate. Work
out the area of the shaded region of
the metal plate.
Give your answer correct to the nearest
cm2.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

6 [Edexcel Linked Pair June

2017 Methods 2F Q22,
Methods 2H Q10]
, and are points on a circle
with as a diameter. is a right-
angled triangle.
Work out the total area of
the regions shaded in the
diagram. Give your answer
correct to 1 decimal place.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

7 [Edexcel GCSE Nov2016-2F

Q28, Nov2016-2H Q11] The
diagram shows a square
ABCD inside a circle.

The points A, B, C and D lie

on the circle.
The radius of the circle is 6
cm. Work out the total area
of the shaded regions. Give
your answer correct to 3
significant figures.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

8 [Edexcel GCSE(9-1) June 2017 3H Q8] A square, with

sides of length cm, is inside a circle.

Each vertex of the square is on the circumference of

the circle.

The area of the circle is 49 cm2. Work out the value

of . Give your answer correct to 3 significant figures.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

9 [Edexcel IGCSE May2016(R)-4H Q7] Here

are two circles. The circles have the same
centre O. The radius of the inner circle is 3
cm. The width of the shaded region
between the inner circle and outer circle is
2 cm.
Work out the area of the shaded region.
Give your answer correct to 3 significant
figures.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

10 [OCR GCSE(9-1) Nov 2018 2F Q21] A

circle, with centre and radius 6 cm,
contains another circle, with centre
and radius cm. Write down an
expression, in terms of and , for the
shaded area in cm.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

11 [Edexcel GCSE(9-1) Nov 2017 1F Q26, Nov 2017

1H Q4 Edited] The diagram shows a logo made
from three circles.

Each circle has centre . Daisy says that exactly

of the logo is shaded. Find the actual fraction of
the logo that is shaded to show that Daisy is
incorrect.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

12 [OCR GCSE(9-1) SAM 5H Q12] Three identical

small circles are drawn inside one large circle, as
shown in the diagram. The centres of the small
circles lie on the diameter of the large circle.
Find the fraction of the large circle that is
shaded.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

N1 [Hamilton 2017 Q1] The diagram shows

four equal arcs placed on the sides of a
square. Each arc is a major arc of a circle
with radius 1 cm, and each side of the
square has length cm. What is the area of
the shaded region?
Leave your answer in terms of .

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

N2 [JMO 2008 A10] The

perimeter of the shape
shown on the right is made
from 20 quarter-circles, each
with radius 2 cm. What is the
area of the shape? Give your
answer as an exact value.

?
Exercise 4 (Questions on provided sheet)

N3 [UKMT] The diagram shows nine 1cm × 1cm

squares and a circle. The circle passes through
the centres of the four corner squares. What
is the area of the shaded region – inside two
squares but outside the circle?

?
Supplementary Questions
Find the shaded/enclosed areas (giving your answer exactly).
a b 2 2 c 2 2
1

6
1 1

Solution:? ?
Solution: Solution:?

d e f 2
2

8
4

4
Solution:? Solution:? ?
Solution: