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
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