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Investigating Radian Measure
|. |Use a compass to construct a circle.
Draw the radius. Label the cenffe C and the other end A.
Using a piece of string, measure/record the circumference of your circle.
Measurelrecord the radius of your circle.
Cut a piece of string the length of the radius.
Starting from point A, lay out the radius-length string along the
circumference of the circle. Mark B on the circle at the end of the string.
ayaer
7. Draw a line from the cent¢¢ of the circle to the point on the circle you marked.
What is this line segment CB called?
How does the length of CB compare to the length of CA?
How do the lengths of CB and C4 compare with the are length, AB?
8. The central angle formed by the two radii CA and CB has an
angle measure I radian, Label this on your circle. In your own words,
what is the definition of an angle measuring 1 radian? Write it in the box below:
). Use a protractor to measure the angle in degrees. Record the value. 1 radian
10, Compare the measure of the angle you drew with the measure of the angle
drawn by a classmate with a radius of a different size. Is the angle smaller? bigger? the same size?
11. What can you conclude about an angle of | radian?
12. Using the radius-length string, continue to wrap the string around the
edge of the circle, marking its ending locations. Draw in the radii.
About how many radii would it take to get around the whole circle?
13. Likewise, approximately how many radians are in a complete circle?
‘Approximately, how many radians are in a semi-circle?
Can you think of a mathematical value or constant that is close to
this latter number?
14. What is the formula for the circumference of a circle, in terms of
its radius 7? c
15, Since you only estimated the number of times the string could be wrapped around the circle, use
‘your more precise circumference and radius measurements to calculate the number of radians.
arclength
Irad =
16. Using the formula above, replace radius with r, and circumference with 2ar to calculate exactly
how many radians there must be in a complete circle?
THE NUMBER OF RADIANS IN A COMPLETE CIRCLE,
ist
17. How many degrees are in a complete circle?
18. If the number of radians in a complete circle is 2x,
how many radians are in a half circle?
19. How many degrees are in a half circle?20. Use the information from the 3 previous steps to write two equivalence
relationships between radians and degrees.
?radian(s ) =? deg rees
21. Can you think of a method to convert back and forth between radians and degrees?
22. Convert each from degrees to radians, SHOW YOUR WORK.
a. 60°
b. 135%
ce, 206"
23. Convert each from radians to degrees. SHOW YOUR WORK.
Qn
3
b. 1.62
Sa
oe o%
6
24, Though the above gives us a way to convert between radians and degrees algebraically, we want to
be able to both do these conversions in our heads as well as be able to quickly draw a sketch of an
angle in radian measure the same way we can draw e sketch of an angle measured in degrees. We
want to learn to think in radians. If you wanted fo draw a sketch of « 60° angle your thinking might
be: “How does 60° compare to 180°? 60° is one-third of 180°, so I need to draw and angle that's
one-third of a straight angle.” Label each circle in degrees and radians.25. Before you are asked to sketch angles of various measures and to convert them to the other unit
(Radians <=> Degrees), several conventions need to be stated.
a. Angles are measured as the rotation from an initial ray to a terminal ray.
b, An angle is said to have positive measure if the rotation is counterclockwise.
c, Amangle is said to have negative measure if the rotation is clockwise.
26, Draw a sketch of each of the following angles. Remember a straight angle has measure 180° or x
radians. Use these facts as the reference point for drawing thiese angles. If the angle is given in
degrees, find its equivalent radian measure. If the angle is given in radians, find its equivalent
degree measure. For each conversion include the factor by which you are multiplying and give exact
answers, Show your work for the conversions.
a a
6 a
im oe a a
3 4
ec. —90°
& Su
27. In determining the number of radians in a complete circle is 2x, we implicitly used the relationship
that _-# radians in an angle = # radii in the circumference = are length around circle
length of the radius
Recall from geometry that an angle with vertex at the centre of a circle is called a
central angle. It makes sense for any central angle of any arc length: *
# radians in an angle = arc length
ength of the radius
In symbols, if the # radians in an angle = measure of the angle in radians = 6*,
then for any central angle with radius rand arc length s, @ =s/ 1. Use algebra
to solve this equation for s. Record your answer.
28. We have just determined and important relationship. Reiterate it below
given @ is a central angle measured in radians with
radius r and arc length s.
This relationship has many practical applications and is helpful in a variety of
problem-solving situations.
29, Returning to the relationship written in the form @ we can see that if's and r are
‘measured in the same units, the radian is unit-neutral, the length units cancel. For example if, r = 6
om and @ = 4 radians, then s = 24 cm (not 24 radian-cm).
(Palgrave Critical University Studies) Michał Izak, Monika Kostera, Michał Zawadzki (Eds.) - The Future of University Education-Palgrave Macmillan (2017)