Medicine Wheel
The medicine wheel is a symbol of the sacred number four, representing the four directions, the four races of man, the four seasons and many other concepts. You may want to find out the significance of the colors. This wheel also provides a way to find the relationship between the radius, the diameter, the circumference and the area of a circle.
Count the number of tiles in the diameter of the circle.
What is the diameter?
Then what is the radius?
Count the number of tiles in the circumference.
What is the ratio of the circumference and diameter (Divide the circumference by the diameter)?
What is the significance of this number?
Count the number of tiles (squares) in one fourth of the circle (one color). You may have to estimate the number of partial tiles and figure how many whole tiles this would be. Add the number of tiles representing the diameters and figure the total number of tiles within the circumference of the circle. This is the area.
The formula for the area of the circle is A = π r2. Remember π.
What is the radius of the circle?
When you use the formula, what answer do you get for the area? When you counted, what area did you get for the circle?
