Finding the Area of a Circle

Date: 3/25/96 at 11:52:12
From: Sharon Risso
Subject: geometry

We at the Hosmer in Mrs. Risso's class are studying area.  We have 
been working on finding the area of different shapes.  One of the shapes 
we are going to find the area of is the circle.  We are sending this 
message to you to find out how to do this if there's an easy way.

Date: 3/25/96 at 21:4:50
From: Doctor Jodi
Subject: Re: geometry

Hi there!  This is a good question!  Have you found the area of 
polygons?  You can divide any polygon into lots of triangles and 
measure their area.  Then if you add up the area of all of the triangles, 
you get the area of the larger polygon.
  
There are quite a few ways to measure the area of a circle.  One way 
that works well is to construct polygons that are just a little bit 
bigger than the circle as well as polygons that are a little bit smaller 
than the circle.  Does this make sense?

If you need more help or a better explanation, write back.  Let us know 
how it goes!

-Doctor Jodi,  The Math Forum