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Circular System

            There is another system of angular measurement, called the Circular System. It is most useful for the study of higher mathematics. Specially in Calculus, angles are measured in radians.

Radian:

            Radian is the measure of the angle subtended at the center of the circle by an arc, whose length is equal to the radius of the circle.

Consider a circle of radius. Construct an angle  at the center of the circle whose rays cut off an arc  on the circle whose length is equal to the radius .

            Thus  radian


Relation between the length of an arc of a circle and the circular measure of its central angle:

                        Prove that
            Where  is the radius of the circle , is the length of the arc and  is the circular measure of the central angle.

Proof:
            Let there be a circle with center  and radius . Suppose that length of arc  and the central angle  radian. Take an arc  of length .

            By definition  radian.

            We know from elementary geometry that measures of central angles of the arcs of a circle are proportional to the lengths of their arcs.


                 
                 
                 

            Thus the central angle  (in radian) subtended by a circular arc of length  is given by , where  is the radius of the circle.


            Remember that  and  are measured in terms of the same unit and the radian measure is unit-less, i.e., it is a real number.
            For example, if  and
            then     




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