Finding the Center of a Circle

lalala...
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 899 Posts

center of circle I recently posted the cat tree project. I selected a round base to use for it, but that made it a little harder to find the center than if it had been a square. I thought I would share a quick way to find the center of a circle.

Total Time: 5 minutes

Supplies:

1 pre-cut plywood circle
1 metal carpenters square

Steps:

First you need to select a carpenter's square that is larger than your circle. Place the square so that the point is at the edge of the circle. Take a ruler, lay it across the square so that it lines up with the points where the square and circle edges aline. Then draw a line with your pencil.

Next flip your square over so that the point is now touching the opposite edge of the circle. Repeat step one. You will now have two pencil lines that intersect at the center of your circle.

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HAPPYINHARNED

June 28, 20171 found this helpful

I would have traced that circle on a newspaper, cut it out, fold the paper in half then in half again and the center mark would have been at the X.

likekinds
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 523 Posts

April 30, 20210 found this helpful

Jess,

Math was my worst subject in high school. I hated it, particularly geometry. It alone made me want to quit school. And yet, unless I'm mistaken, I've found another way to find the center of a circle.

Place the square so the inner sides touch the top and left sides of the circle. Make a small mark where the two inner angles meet. Do the same for the other three 'sides'.

Then with a straight edge, draw lines from top left mark to bottom right mark and from top right mark to bottom left mark. Where the lines intersect should be center.

I did this in less than a minute. It seemed to be correct.

Don't spare me. I'm losing cognition. If I've goofed, please tell me.
Heck, with my stickytism, my perfectly drawn Gimp circle looks like an oval, anyway.