Question Bank / Math / Circles

Circles SAT question

Math · Geometry and Trigonometry · Hard · Answer it here, explanation included.

What is the diameter of the circle in the xy-plane with equation ?

ExplanationShow

Choice B is correct. The standard form of an equation of a circle in the xy-plane is , where the coordinates of the center of the circle are  and the length of the radius of the circle is . For the circle in the xy-plane with equation , it follows that . Taking the square root of both sides of this equation yields or . Because represents the length of the radius of the circle and this length must be positive, . Therefore, the radius of the circle is . The diameter of a circle is twice the length of the radius of the circle. Thus, yields . Therefore, the diameter of the circle is .

Choice A is incorrect. This is the radius of the circle. 

Choice C is incorrect. This is the square of the radius of the circle. 

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Drill this skill on Aceit

Adaptive practice, a daily plan, and score tracking take a free account so we can save your work.

Practice this skill

More Circles questions