Squaring the circle the circular arc b around O with radius , it results S'. Bisect the line segment in D and draw the semicircle b over D. Draw a straight line from O through C up to the semicircle b, it cuts b in E. The line segment is the mean proportional between and , also called geometric mean. Extend the line segment beyond O and transfer twice more, it results F and A, and thus the length of the line segment with the above described approximation value of formula_3, the half circumference of the circle. Bisect the line segment in G
Area of a circle formula_53. The calculations Archimedes used to approximate the area numerically were laborious, and he stopped with a polygon of 96 sides. A faster method uses ideas of Willebrord Snell ("Cyclometricus", 1621), further developed by Christiaan Huygens ("De Circuli Magnitudine Inventa", 1654), described in . Given a circle, let "u" be the perimeter of an inscribed regular "n-"gon, and let "U" be the perimeter of a circumscribed regular "n-"gon. Then "u" and "U" are lower and upper bounds for the circumference of the circle that become sharper and sharper as "n" increases, and their average ("u" + "U")/2 is an especially