Chord

A chord is any line segment where the end points of the line are on the same circle.

Construction of a Chord

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This figure is constructed given any circle with a radius greater than zero, and two different points on the circle.

  1. Label the center of the circle O
  2. Draw two points on the circle and label the points D and E. Connect D and E with a line segment.

Exploration

The figure drawn above is a chord drawn in a circle. Click on the points and drag them. What changes? What stays the same. Write your own definition of a chord.

What is the shortest a chord can be? What is the longest it can be?