Area of a circle Measurement of a Circle" (c. 260 BCE), compare the area enclosed by a circle to a right triangle whose base has the length of the circle's circumference and whose height equals the circle's radius. If the area of the circle is not equal to that of the triangle, then it must be either greater or less. We eliminate each of these by contradiction, leaving equality as the only possibility. We use regular polygons in the same way. Suppose that the area "C" enclosed by the circle is greater than the area "T" = ⁄"cr" of the triangle. Let "E" denote
Distance from a point to a line a side, and "h" is the perpendicular height from the opposite vertex. This proof is only valid if the line is neither vertical nor horizontal, that is, we assume that neither "a" nor "b" in the equation of the line is zero. The line with equation "ax" + "by" + "c" = 0 has slope -"a"/"b", so any line perpendicular to it will have slope "b"/"a" (the negative reciprocal). Let ("m", "n") be the point of intersection of the line "ax" + "by" + "c" = 0 and the line perpendicular to it which passes through the point ("x", "y").