# Standard Equation of a Circle

Let $P\left( {x,y} \right)$ be any point of the circle as shown in the diagram, then by the definition of circle, the distance of point $P\left( {x,y} \right)$ from $C\left( {h,k} \right)$ must be equal to the radius of the circle $r$. i.e. $\left| {CP} \right| = r$.

As we know that distance formula from the analytic geometry as

Now we shall use this formula to establish the equation of circle, consider the points $C\left( {h,k} \right) = \left( {{x_1},{y_1}} \right)$ and $P\left( {x,y} \right) = \left( {{x_2},{y_2}} \right)$, now using distance formula for these two points as:

Squaring both sides, we have

This is the equation of circle with centre $\left( {h,k} \right)$ and radius $r$. This is called the equation of circle in standard form.

Note: If the centre of the circle is at origin $\left( {0,0} \right)$, then $h = 0,\,k = 0$, so the equation of circle takes the form

This is the equation of the circle with radius $r$ and the centre at the origin $\left( {0,0} \right)$ in two dimensions XY-plane.

Example: Find the equation of a circle with centre $\left( {1, - 2} \right)$ and radius $7$.
Solution: Form the given data of the example we have centre $\left( {1, - 2} \right)$ and radius $7$. In this situation we use the standard form of equation of circle is

By the given condition $h = 1,\,k = - 2$ and $r = 7$, so putting these values in the given equation of circle, we have

This is the required equation of the circle.