Why is the area of a circle πr²?

Why the area of a circle is πr²: cut the circle into slices, rearrange them into a near-rectangle of height r and width πr, and multiply.

Step-by-step explanation

  1. Imagine a circle of radius r, which we can cut into many equal pie slices.
  2. If we unroll and interlock these slices alternately, they form a shape resembling a rectangle.
  3. The height of this strip is the radius r, and its width is half the circumference, which is pi times r.
  4. Multiplying the width by the height gives us pi times r times r, which is pi r squared.

This is a real answer from Math Motion AI: the explanation and the animation were made by the site for this question.

More animated examples