Area of a circle Archimedes is not rigorous by modern standards, because it assumes that we can compare the length of arc of a circle to the length of a secant and a tangent line, and similar statements about the area, as geometrically evident. The area of a regular polygon is half its perimeter times the apothem. As the number of sides of the regular polygon increases, the polygon tends to a circle, and the apothem tends to the radius. This suggests that the area of a disk is half the circumference of its bounding circle times the radius. Following Archimedes' argument in "The
Earth's circumference system of latitude and longitude. Longditude lines, also known as meridian lines, follow the polar circumference, and are all exactly the same length. Latitude lines, known as circles of latitude are parallel to each other; the equatorial circumference is the largest circle of latitude, and the Earth’s longest circumference distance. Other circles of latitude have smaller circumference; for example, the 60th parallel north or south is approximately half as long as the Equator. According to Cleomedes' "On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies", around 240 BC, Eratosthenes, the librarian of the Library of Alexandria, calculated the circumference of the