> > Given a known chord slice of a given circle of indeterminate size, and a know > length > > of that chords bisector, write a function that can compute the diameter of any size > > circle. > > > > //Harder than it sounds.... > > No it's not. Sounds impossible!
Nah, it does *sound* easy. You've definitely got all the information there, two perpendicular line segments defining an arc.
Measuring the arc is math I've forgotten, though. Even knowing the method, the calculation would be left to electronics now, and it was... more than two decades ago that I last touched that.
The distance from the center of the chord to the point where a perpendicular line segment from chord to arc is equal to the remaining distance to the end of the chord, added to the bisector, should be the radius, provided I didn't get lost in that sentence.
Hmm... the ratio of bisector to half the chord has to result in a calculation of a tangent (or, cotangent?)... yeah, that's the stuff I don't remember. We did it all on paper in school, graphs rather than graphing calculators.
Oh... if the chord slice is greater than half the circle....
Edited by TriggerFin (03/18/13 09:16 PM)
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