RELATION BETWEEN DEGREE AND RADIANS IN CIRCLE

A project submitted to:

The Department of Mathematics

Kathmandu Model Secondary School

Bagbazar, Kathmandu

Submitted by:
Ayush Kafle
Science- D3
NEB Registration: 793271010403

Under supervision of Mr. Bhogendra Thakur

Lecturer, Kathmandu Model Higher Secondary School,

Bagbazar, Kathmandu
 Declaration

I hereby declare that the report presented in this project report has been done by myself under
the supervision of Mr. Bhogendra Thakur, and has not been submitted elsewhere for any
examination.

All sources of information have been specifically acknowledged by references to authors or

institution.

Signature:_______________

Ayush Kafle
Science-D3
Date:

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 Subject Teacher’s Recommendation

The project work report entitled ‘Relation between degree and radians in circle’ submitted by
Ayush Kafle, of Kathmandu Model Secondary School, Bagbazar, Kathmandu is prepared
under my supervision as per the procedure and format requirements laid by the Department of
Mathematics, Kathmandu Model Secondary School, as the partial fulfillment of the
requirements of the internal evaluation of grade XII. I, therefore, recommend the report of the
evaluation.

Signature:___________
Mr. Bhogendra Thakur
Date:

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 Endorsement

We hereby endorse the project work entitled ‘Relation between degree and radians of the circle’
submitted by Ayush Kafle of Kathmandu Model Secondary School, Bagbazar, Kathmandu,
Nepal in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Mathematics subject internal evaluation
of grade XII.

Signature: ______________ Signature:________________

Mr. Chiran Gyawali Dr. Nagendra Bahadur Aryal
HOD,Department of Mathematics Principal
Date: Date:

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 Acknowledgement

I am grateful in my humbleness and would like to acknowledge my regards to everyone who

helped me put these ideas together, well above all the simplicity and turning into something as
strong as concrete. I would like to express my gratitude to the Head of Department
(Mathematics), Supervisor: Mr. Bhogendra Thakur, as well as the college administration for
providing me with this amazing opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic, “Relation
between degree and radians in circle”, which encouraged me to do heaps of research where I
got to learn many new things. Any attempt at any level couldn’t have been satisfactorily
completed without the support of my parents and siblings for their undivided support and
interest which inspired me and encouraged me to go on my way without whom I’d be unable
to complete my project. At the end, I would also like to thank my friends for their support and
encouragement to continue doing the work.
Thank you!

Ayush Kafle
Roll no.: 22

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 Table of Contents

Declaration ................................................................................................................................ii
Subject Teacher’s Recommendation ........................................................................................ iii
Endorsement ............................................................................................................................. iv
Acknowledgement ...................................................................................................................... v
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... vi
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ vii
List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... vii
Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1
Background ............................................................................................................................ 1
Objectives ............................................................................................................................... 4
Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 4
Material and method............................................................................................................... 7
Limitations ............................................................................................................................. 8
CHAPTER II RESULTS AND ANALYSIS ............................................................................. 9
CHAPTER III CONCLUSION................................................................................................ 11
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 12

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List of Tables

Table 1 Definition of degree and radian 4

List of Figures

Figure 1 Radian 3
Figure 2 Relation between degree and radian measures 5
Figure 3 Relationship between radians and degrees 9
Figure 4 Way to convert degree to radian and vice versa 10

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 Abbreviations

° : Degree

' : Minute

" : Second

Π : Pie

SI: International System of Units

r : Radius

KMSS: Kathmandu Model Secondary School

KMC: Kathmandu Model College

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background

Initially right triangles were used to define trigonometric ratios and angles were measured in
degrees. But right angled triangles have certain limitations as they involve only acute angles.
So, mathematicians determined a size of degree based on the divisions of a full circle which
corresponds to 360°. Degrees are the same thing as a slice (1/360) of a circle. Although there
is no real reason to consider a circle has 360°. Regardless of the reason, 360 is a great number
because it can evenly be divided by many other numbers- 180, 120, 90, 72, 60, 45, 40, 36, 30,
24, 18, 15, 12, 10, 9, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2. Degrees can further be divided into minutes and seconds,
but that division is not as universal as it used to be. Each degree is divided into 60 equal parts
called minutes. So, seven and a half degrees can be called 7 degrees an 30 minutes, written 7°
30'. Each minute is further divided into 60 equal parts called seconds, and, for instance, 2
degrees 5 minutes 30 seconds is written 2° 5' 30". The division of degrees into minutes and
seconds of angle is analogous to the division of hours into minutes and seconds of time.

Later in 17th century, trigonometry was extended to physics and chemistry where trigonometric
functions were required and their domains were set to real numbers rather than angles. And
this was accomplished by using correspondence between an angle and length of the arc on a
unit circle. Such measure of angel is termed as radian measure. Radians are common unit of
measurement in many technical fields, including calculus but they are not as easy as degree, as
it is not a whole number. It is believed that radians were originally developed to provide
mathematicians with a method to relate the measure of an angle to the size or radius of a circle.
The most important irrational number π plays vital role in radian measures of angles. Radians
are comparatively larger than degrees. Circles have two radians and a single radian is
approximately 1/6 of a circle or it is just over 57°. The biggest advantage of radians is that they
are the natural measures for dividing a circle. If the radius of a circle is taken and is bent into
an arc which lies on the circumference then only six of them would be needed to go completely
around the circle. The angles which are multiples of 15 are most widely used i.e. 30, 45, 60,
𝜋 𝜋 𝜋 𝜋
90, they are expressed in radians as as 6 radians, 4 radians, 3 radians and 2 radians respectively.

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Despite of the advantage and easiness of one over other, both degree and radians are commonly
used in practice in fields such as mathematics, physics, engineering, and many other applied
sciences. Degree has a history running back to ancient Babylonian history while radian is a
relatively modern mathematical concept introduced in 1714 by Roger Cotes.

Defining angles and its measurement units

Angles are important in all kinds of fields, such as construction, science, math, navigation and
engineering. An angle is the rotation of a ray from an initial point to a terminal point. According
to Euclidean Geometry, an angle is formed if two rays intersect and share a common endpoint.
The rays are denoted as sides of the angle, whereas the common endpoint is the vertex. Angles
are formed by the rays that lie in the same plane. The angle is said to be a positive angle if the
rotation is clockwise and negative is the rotation is anticlockwise.

Angle measurement is the amount of rotation performed by the initial side to get to the terminal
side. Angles can be measured using degree and radians.

Degree

Degree is the most commonly used elementary unit of angular measurement. Even though it is the
most common unit in practice it is not the SI unit of angular measurement. It mostly likely comes
from Babylonains, who used a base 60 ( Sexagesimal) number system. In their calendar, there
was a total of 360 days. Hence, they adopted a full angle to be 360°. First, they tried to divide a
full angle into angles using the angle of an equilateral triangle. Later, following their number
system (base 60), they divided 60° by 60 and defined that as 1°. Sometimes, it is also referred
to as arc degree or arc-degree which means the degree of an arc. Another method of subdivision
is decimal degree, where one arc degree is divided into 100. One hundredth of a degree is
known and symbolized by the term grad.

An angle is said to be equal to 1° if the rotation from the initial to the terminal side is equal to
1/360 of the full rotation. A degree is further divided into minutes and seconds. 1′ (1 minute)
is defined as one-sixtieth of a degree and 1” (1 second) is defined as one-sixtieth of a minute.
Thus,

1°= 60′ = 3600”

Radian

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Radian measure is slightly more complex than the degree measure. A radian is defined as the
plane angle subtended by a circular arc of length which is equal to its radius. It is the standard
unit of angular measurement and it is used in many areas of mathematics and its applications.
It is also a derived SI unit of angular measurement and it is dimensionless. Compared to other
units, radian is preferred because of its natural nature. When applied, radian allows more
interpretation in mathematics than other units.

Figure 1 Radian[5]

Profile of organization

KMSS is a premier and time –tested academic hub for aspirants seeking top- notch higher
education in Nepal. Since its inception in 2000 A.D., KMSS has exuberantly carved out an
enviable niche itself at the pinnacle of the best +2 schools in the country. In the course of its
two decade glorious academic odyssey, it has earned its discrete place of pride and stands out
from the crowd in academic par excellence across the nation.
KMSS is committed to redefining modern education and retaining the historical legacy of
academic excellence throughout and aspires for soaring even higher in academia. It makes
deliberate efforts to set the student’s dreams into motion and hanker to take the learning
experience beyond the classroom to make it a unique pool of talent. It has kept itself abreast of
modern educational trends and caters to competent modern education in resonance with the
values of life and remains committed to pursuing its goal of ‘Academic Excellence through
Quality Education’.
KMSS has goal to impart sound professional training and knowledge to students and to
inculcate in them time- tested values and responsibilities as good citizens of the country, to
strengthen students’ capacity to cope with all kinds of challenging situations, to foster round

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development of students through curricular and extracurricular programs and to motivate
student to become self- reliant and to strive for and attain academic and professional excellence.
Due to its outstanding performance and time relevant goals, KMC has achieved a lot since its
establishment. Some of the major achievements of KMC include: honored with the Educational
Award 2074 by Ministry of Education for its outstanding results, students have secured good
position in grades XI and XII science including board top, nationwide outstanding result and
many more.

Objectives

Objectives of the study are:

- To analyze the relationship between radians and degree of circle.

- To boost up the researcher’s confidence to convert degrees into radians and vice versa.

Literature Review

The amount of revolution made to get the terminal side from the initial side is called the
measure of an angle. Degree measure and radian measure are the most commonly used units
of measurements of an angle. The relation between degree and radian is used to convert the
given measurement of an angle from one unit to another unit.
The degree measure and radian measure can be defined as:

Table 1
Definition of degree and radian

Degree measure Radian measure

If a rotation from the initial side to terminal side is Angle subtended at the center by an arc of
1 th
of a revolution, then the angle is said to have a length 1 unit in a unit circle is said to have
360
a measure of 1 radian.
measure of one degree, written as 1°.

For a circle, a complete angle is 360° or 2𝜋 radians, which is the basis for converting the
measures of angles from one unit to another. That means a circle subtends an angle whose,
radian measure is 2𝜋 and its degree measure is 360° at the centre. This can also be written as:

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2𝜋 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 360°
Or,
𝜋 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 180°

The above relationship allows us to formulate a radian measure in degree measure and a degree
measure in radian measure. We know that the approximate value of pi is 22/7. By substituting
the value in the above relation, we get,
1 radian= 180°/π = 57° 16′ (approx)

Also,

1° = π/80 radian = 0.01746 radian (approx) [9]

The figure below demonstrates the relation between degree measures and radian measures:

Figure 2 Relation between degree and radian measures [9]

Degree and radians are both geometrical units used for representing the angle measurement.
The complete revolution in anti-clockwise direction is determined by 360° or 2𝜋 radians, in
geometry.

Bargav in his study “Relation between radian and degrees’ concluded that the subscript for
radiant is usually omitted. So, the relation can be expressed as π= 180 degree. This derivation
of the relation between radian and degrees has been shown below:

-Consider a circle with center O and radius r units.

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-Let PQ be the diameter of a circle.

-Let A and B be any point on the circle, such that the length of the arc AB is equal to the radius
r of the circle

-Then the angle < AOB will be equal to 1 radian. (i.e. <AOB= 1

We have, length of the semi- circular arc= πr and the length of the arc AB= 𝑟 𝑐

<AOB=1𝑐 and <POQ= 180 = x C(say)

We know that in a circle, the arc lengths are proportional to the angles subtended by them at
the centre. Therefore,

𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝐴𝐵 𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝑃𝑄
= <𝑃𝑂𝑄
<𝐴𝑂𝐵

𝑟 𝜋𝑟
= 𝑥𝑐 x= 𝜋 𝑐
1𝑐

But x= 180º

𝑥𝑐 𝜋𝑟
= =π
1𝑐 𝑟

180º =𝜋 𝑐

Π= 22/7 = 3.142
3.142𝑐 = 180º
In practice, the subscript for radian is usually omitted. It is therefore, understood that
Π= 180º

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Comparison between degree and radians

A radian is a universal unit of measure. It can measure any angle, whether it is in the degree
or the radian system. As a result, two angles with different units of measure are often
compared against each other.

For example, if one angle is measured in degrees and another is measured in radians, the two
angles may be compared by converting them to a standard unit of measure.

It is generally easier to work with angles in the radian system. However, it is important to
know how to use the conversion equation between the two systems so that angles can be
converted between the two systems when necessary. When working with angles in the degree
system, it is essential to remember that there are 360° in a full circle.

Working with these systems of measuring angles allows you to easily divide angles by 360 to
get a percentage of the circle that the angle occupies.

For example, an angle measuring 45° is about 1/4th of a circle, or 90°.

Conversely, when working with angles in the radian system, it is essential to remember that
there are 2π radians in a full circle.

This makes it easy to divide angles by 2π to get the percentage of the circle that the angle
occupies.

For example, an angle measuring π/6 radians is about 1/12th of a circle, or 30°.

Material and method

Data collection

There are two types of data. They are: Primary data and secondary data. Primary data is the
type of data that is collected by researcher directly from the sources through interviews,
surveys, experiments etc. Secondary data is the second hand data that is not collected from its

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original source rather it is obtained from published or unpublished sources. In this study, data
was collected from various websites explaining the relation between degree and radians in
circle.

Research design

In this study, descriptive research design has been used. In descriptive composition, researcher
is solely interested in describing the situation or case under their study. It is a theory based
design method created by gathering, analyzing and presenting collected data.

Limitations

The limitations of the study are:

-Only secondary data was used in this study and most of the data were collected from websites.

-Limited access to data

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 CHAPTER II

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

From the literature reviewed, the researcher has come to the finding that the equation π radian=
180º explains the relationship between radians and degrees in circle. The relation can further
be explained from the derivation made by Donna Roberts.

Figure 3 Relationship between radians and degrees [5]

The above figure shows that we will need 3 radii plus a bit more to complete the semicircle.
The number of radians needed to represent the central angle of a semicircle is approximately
3.14159 radians which is the value of π.
As we know that the central angle in a semicircle contains 180º. So, we have π radians
equivalent to 180º and we now know;

• π radians = 180º
• 1 radian ≈ 57.29577951º (divide
by π).
• 2π radians = 360º

And using the formula shown in the figure below degree can be converted to radian and radian
can be converted to degree.

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Figure 4 Way to convert degree to radian and vice versa [9]

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 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

Degree and radian are vital measuring units. Because of the properties of degrees and radians,
they are used widely. A degree can be defined as the angle made by one part of 360 equally
divided parts of a circle at the centre with a radius of r, and a radian can be defined as the angle
made at the centre of the circle by an arc of length equivalent to its radius.

The relationship between radian and degree can be explained by the equation π radian = 180°.
One degree is equivalent to 0.017453 radians, and 1 radian is equivalent to 57.2958°. Both
degree and radian can be converted easily. To convert degree into radian, multiply the value of
degree by π / 180° and to convert radian into the degree, multiply the value of degree by 180°/
π.

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 Bibliography

1. Emelda, M. (2018, March 13). Difference between degrees and radians. Difference
between similar terms and objects .

2. Retrieved from https://www.onlinemathlearning.com/radians-degrees.html

3. Retrieved from https://flexbooks.ck12.org.com

4. Retrieved from https://www.brainkart.com

5. Retrieved from https://mathbitsnotebook.com

6. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/SumanBargav/relation-between-radian-

and-degrees

7. Retrieved from https://www.cuemath.com

8. Retrieved from https://mathvox.com

9. Retrieved from https://byjus.com

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