What defines the diameter?

What defines the diameter?

• A. The distance around the circle.
• B. The chord that does not pass through the center.
• C. The length of a line running between two points on the circle passing through the center.
• D. The radius of the circle.

Answer: (C)

The diameter is the line segment that runs across the circle, connecting two points on the circle and passing through the center. This makes it the longest possible chord, and its length is twice the circle’s radius (d = 2r). This is why the statement describing a line segment between two points on the circle that passes through the center is the correct definition. It isn’t the distance around the circle (that’s circumference), it isn’t a chord that doesn’t go through the center, and it isn’t the radius (which goes from the center to the circle rather than across it).

The diameter is the line segment that runs across the circle, connecting two points on the circle and passing through the center. This makes it the longest possible chord, and its length is twice the circle’s radius (d = 2r). This is why the statement describing a line segment between two points on the circle that passes through the center is the correct definition. It isn’t the distance around the circle (that’s circumference), it isn’t a chord that doesn’t go through the center, and it isn’t the radius (which goes from the center to the circle rather than across it).