Finding the center of a circle

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See also the animated version.

After doing this Your work should look like this

We start with a given circle.

Geometry construction with compass and straightedge or ruler or ruler
1.  Using a straightedge, draw any two chords of the circle. For greatest accuracy, avoid chords that are nearly parallel. Geometry construction with compass and straightedge or ruler or ruler
2.  Construct the perpendicular bisector of one of the chords using the method described in Constructing a perpendicular bisector of a line segment Geometry construction with compass and straightedge or ruler or ruler
3.  Repeat for the other chord Geometry construction with compass and straightedge or ruler or ruler
4.  The point where the two lines intersect is the center C of the circle. Geometry construction with compass and straightedge or ruler or ruler

Other constructions pages on this site

Lines

Angles

Triangles

Right triangles

Triangle Centers

Circles, Arcs and Ellipses

Polygons

Non-Euclidean constructions