Is it possible to identify a circular arc given its length and two of its endpoints?

86 Views Asked by At

enter image description here

Suppose you have the length of the circular arc AB, in addition to the coordinates of A and B. Is this information sufficient to draw the arc (i.e. find its center point)?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

2
On BEST ANSWER

It is sufficient except for an ambiguity of which side of the line segment $AB$ the center lies on. The center lies on the bisector of $AB$. If $r$ is the radius of the circle, $L$ is the length of the arc, $\theta$ is the angle at the center subtended by $AB$, $d$ is the length of $AB$ we have $$L=r\theta\\d=2r\sin\left (\frac \theta 2\right)$$ and we can solve these numerically to get $r, \theta$. This lets you find possible points for the center.

A figure is below. My $B,C$ are your $A,B$. enter image description here