How do you find the area and circumference of an oval?

Answer 1

A tough question, with no exact answer.

Call half the longest distance across the oval (x) and half the shortest distance across (y). These are called the semi-major and semi-minor axis.

The area is simple enough. (pi)(x)(y)

Figuring the circumference is a bear of a calculus problem, but you can get close enough.

A good approximation is to take 2(pi)((x²+y²)/2)(1/2). That is an ugly expression, so read it: Two pi times the square root of "x²+y² over 2" ■

Answer 2

To find the area of an oval, you can use the formula: Area = π * radius1 * radius2. For the circumference of an oval, there isn't a simple formula like for circles, but you can approximate it using methods like arc length formulas.