Compare Circle Areas: Finding Area Ratio of 4 cm vs 10 cm Radius Circles

Area Ratios with Square Relationships

There are two circles.

One circle has a radius of 4 cm, while the other circle has a radius of 10 cm.

How many times greater is the area of the second circle than the area of the first circle?

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Step-by-step video solution

Watch the teacher solve the problem with clear explanations
00:00 How many times larger is circle 2's area than circle 1's area?
00:03 Let's use the formula for calculating circle area
00:10 Let's substitute the radius value according to the given data and solve for the area
00:17 This is circle 1's area
00:21 Let's use the same formula to calculate circle 2's area
00:29 This is circle 2's area
00:36 Let's divide the areas to find the ratio between them
00:52 Let's cancel out pi
00:57 And this is the solution to the question

Step-by-step written solution

Follow each step carefully to understand the complete solution
1

Understand the problem

There are two circles.

One circle has a radius of 4 cm, while the other circle has a radius of 10 cm.

How many times greater is the area of the second circle than the area of the first circle?

2

Step-by-step solution

The area of a circle is calculated using the following formula:

where r represents the radius.

Using the formula, we calculate the areas of the circles:

Circle 1:

π42= π\cdot4² =

π16 π16

Circle 2:

π102= \pi\cdot10²=

π100 π100

To calculate how much larger one circle is than the other (in other words - what is the ratio between them)

All we need to do is divide one area by the other.

10016= \frac{100}{16}=

614 6\frac{1}{4}

Therefore the answer is 6 and a quarter!

3

Final Answer

614 6\frac{1}{4}

Key Points to Remember

Essential concepts to master this topic
  • Formula: Circle area equals π times radius squared
  • Technique: Calculate ratio by dividing larger area by smaller area
  • Check: Verify 100π16π=10016=614 \frac{100π}{16π} = \frac{100}{16} = 6\frac{1}{4}

Common Mistakes

Avoid these frequent errors
  • Adding or subtracting radii instead of squaring
    Don't compare radii directly like 10 - 4 = 6! Area depends on radius squared, not radius itself. A 10cm radius circle isn't just 2.5 times bigger - it's 6.25 times bigger because area scales with the square of radius. Always use A=πr2 A = πr^2 and compare the full areas.

Practice Quiz

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What is the ratio between the orange and gray parts in the drawing?

FAQ

Everything you need to know about this question

Why is the answer 6¼ and not just 2½ times bigger?

+

Great question! While the radius is 2.5 times bigger (10 ÷ 4 = 2.5), area grows with the square of radius. So you need to calculate 2.52=6.25=614 2.5^2 = 6.25 = 6\frac{1}{4} !

Do I need to calculate the actual areas with π?

+

No! Since both circles have π in their area formulas, the π values cancel out when you divide. Just work with 10016 \frac{100}{16} instead of 100π16π \frac{100π}{16π} .

How do I convert 100/16 to a mixed number?

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Divide: 100 ÷ 16 = 6 with remainder 4. So 10016=6416=614 \frac{100}{16} = 6\frac{4}{16} = 6\frac{1}{4} after simplifying the fraction part.

What if the circles had different units, like cm and mm?

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You'd need to convert to the same units first! For example, 1 cm = 10 mm, so a 4 cm radius becomes 40 mm before calculating the ratio.

Is there a shortcut for finding area ratios?

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Yes! For circles, the area ratio equals the square of the radius ratio. Here: (104)2=(52)2=254=614 \left(\frac{10}{4}\right)^2 = \left(\frac{5}{2}\right)^2 = \frac{25}{4} = 6\frac{1}{4}

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