Secant line Secant line In geometry, a secant of a curve is a line that intersects the curve in at least two (distinct) points. The word "secant" comes from the Latin word "secare", meaning "to cut". In the case of a circle, a secant will intersect the circle in exactly two points and a chord is the line segment determined by these two points, that is the interval on a secant whose endpoints are these points. A straight line can intersect a circle in two, one or zero points. A line intersecting in two points is called a "secant line", in one
Measurement of a Circle two legs being "c" and "r". This proposition is proved by the method of exhaustion. Proposition two states: The area of a circle is to the square on its diameter as 11 to 14. This proposition could not have been placed by Archimedes, for it relies on the outcome of the third proposition. Proposition three states: The ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter is greater than formula_1 but less than formula_2. This approximates what we now call the mathematical constant π. He found these bounds on the value of π by inscribing and circumscribing a circle