How to divide the circumference of a circle equally? - Answers

First you calculate the circumference of the circle using the standard formula C=pi x D, Where C is the circumference, D is the Diameter of your circle (measured across the widest part of the circle) and pi is a known constant of 3.14 (discovered by the ancient Greeks or is that ancient Geeks?). So if your circle is 300 mm across (12 inches in old terms) then it is calculated as so: 3.14 x 300 = 942mm circumference. To work out the distance between the points you need to decide how many points are required around the circle (circumference). For this explanation I will use 8 points and we know a circle has 360 degrees as seen on a compass therefore divide 360 degrees by 8 points as so: 360 / 8 = 45 degrees. Now the final part to calculate the distance from the first point to the second of 8 points we divide the circumference of the circle 942 mm by 360 degrees to find out the distance of one degree, I hope you are starting to see where I am going with this, as so: 942 / 360 = 2.61666667 mm then you take the answer for 1 degree of the circumference and multiply it by 45 degrees (which is one eight of the circle, giving us the eight points) as so: 2.61666667 x 45 = 117.75mm (or 4.71 inches). Hey presto 'simples' you have the answer! By the way pi is actually 3.14159 and the first people to be aware of such a constant were the Egyptians followed by the Babylonians although their pi's were not as accurate!