I had met a few class mates and as we got to talking they started pulling my leg regarding me being my maths teachers pet. It was true and I was smiling away. Frankly I enjoyed her attention and she did encourage me a lot and was one of the biggest influences in my life in loving maths and science. I was pretty proud of the fact that my Physics miss(yeah we used to call our teachers 'miss' ..even if she was a lady with four kids ;)) and English sir found me one of those kids who had real interest in these subjects.
But personal ego aside I was troubled by one of the statements these schoolmates had made. 'Piyush I still remember the silly questions you used to ask..I mean who asks 'why a circle is called a circle' '
Well first of all I never asked THAT question. I had asked 'How do u know that a figure is a circle?'.Secondly I never got an answer.
Let me elaborate that question.
If you see a big figure like a circle how do u know that it has a circumference which is equidistance from the centre. The answer would be simple find its centre and then its done. But but but..how do you find a centre? THAT was my question.
I finally found that answer.
Its simple . Use a ruler and draw lines cutting the figure. Find the biggest line that is possible and cut it into two. That will give you the centre and then if all points on the border are equidistant then it IS a circle.
But but but..there is a catch to this method.
How do you find the biggest line? Because there is a chance that you will miss out the biggest line however fine the lines you draw as the area can be covered by an infinite number of lines and there is a chance that you might miss out the biggest line..however large the number you draw !
There is always an element of doubt!Its not that Simple
But personal ego aside I was troubled by one of the statements these schoolmates had made. 'Piyush I still remember the silly questions you used to ask..I mean who asks 'why a circle is called a circle' '
Well first of all I never asked THAT question. I had asked 'How do u know that a figure is a circle?'.Secondly I never got an answer.
Let me elaborate that question.
If you see a big figure like a circle how do u know that it has a circumference which is equidistance from the centre. The answer would be simple find its centre and then its done. But but but..how do you find a centre? THAT was my question.
I finally found that answer.
Its simple . Use a ruler and draw lines cutting the figure. Find the biggest line that is possible and cut it into two. That will give you the centre and then if all points on the border are equidistant then it IS a circle.
But but but..there is a catch to this method.
How do you find the biggest line? Because there is a chance that you will miss out the biggest line however fine the lines you draw as the area can be covered by an infinite number of lines and there is a chance that you might miss out the biggest line..however large the number you draw !
There is always an element of doubt!Its not that Simple
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