Talk:subtend

The sentence for the subtended angle should use a 43 degree angle. A 90 degree angle would subtend an arc of length approximately 1.57 meters, not 3/4 meters as is stated. The edit is for honest mathematical reasons.

That's fine, but please show references that support your theory. Jamesjiao → ^{T ◊ C} 18:34, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

See the page on "Radians" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radian - because this is truly a mathematical triviality, not my own theory. A circle of radius one meter subtends 2*PI meters for every 360 degrees, or, measured another way, every 2*PI radians. The rest comes from setting up a ratio to solve for the unknown angle measure: 0.75 meters / 2*PI meters = x degrees / 360 degrees. By basic algebra, x is approximately 360*0.75/6.28, so x is about 43 degrees. The sentence is a fine use of the word "subtend" but was mathematically false when it said 90 degrees. I offered to correct that mistake because it was as offensive as seeing 2+2=5. Here's a picture if that helps: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Degree-Radian_Conversion.svg