What is minor arc

For example 'arc AQB', would not be in doubt since the point Q would lie on only on one of the two possible arcs. When the major and minor arcs are the same length, they divide the circle into two semicircular arcs.

See Semicircle definition. Rhoad, R. Geometry for Enjoyment and Challenge, rev. Weisstein, Eric W. Explore thousands of free applications across science, mathematics, engineering, technology, business, art, finance, social sciences, and more. Walk through homework problems step-by-step from beginning to end. The arc of a circle consists of two points on the circle and all of the points on the circle that lie between those two points. It's like a segment that was wrapped partway around a circle.

An arc is measured not by its length although it can be, of course but most often by the measure of the angle whose vertex is the center of the circle and whose rays intercept the endpoints of the arc.

Hence an arc can be anywhere from 0 to degrees. Below an arc is pictured. The arc above contains points A, B, and all the points between them. But what if the arc went the other way around the circle?

This brings up an important point. Every pair of endpoints defines two arcs. An arc whose measure is less than degrees is called a minor arc. An arc whose measure is greater than degrees is called a major arc. A major arc is the longer arc connecting two endpoints on a circle. Note that the minor arc is named with just two endpoints, while the major arc is named with three letters, the two endpoints and a third point on the arc.

The measure of the arc formed by two adjacent arcs is the sum of the measures of the two arcs.