Circle a triangle whose base has the length of the circle's circumference and whose height equals the circle's radius, which comes to multiplied by the radius squared: Equivalently, denoting diameter by "d", that is, approximately 79% of the circumscribing square (whose side is of length "d"). The circle is the plane curve enclosing the maximum area for a given arc length. This relates the circle to a problem in the calculus of variations, namely the isoperimetric inequality. Equation of a circle<br> In an "x"–"y" Cartesian coordinate system, the circle with centre coordinates ("a", "b") and radius "r" is the set of
Earth's circumference determine latitude at sea. He reasoned that the lines of latitude could be used as the basis for a unit of measurement for distance and proposed the nautical mile as one minute or one-sixtieth () of one degree of latitude. As one degree is of a circle, one minute of arc is of a circle – such that the polar circumference of the Earth would be exactly 21,600 miles. Gunter used Snell's circumference to define a nautical mile as 6,080 feet, the length of one minute of arc at 48 degrees latitude. In 1791, the French Academy of Sciences selected