List of definitions of a circle


Back in December of 2022 I visited a middle school in Tacoma, Washington. The kids and I talked about how, in some ways, a triangle is the same thing as a circle. Inspired by the famous list of Thurston found in On proof and the progress of mathematics describing various definitions of the derivative, I wanted to list out a few definitions of "the circle" accepted in various contexts. Please let me know if you think of any additions to this list or want to offer corrections.

  1. The circle (centered at a point PP) is the set of all points in the plane which are of a fixed distance from PP. This is the purportedly the definition Groethendieck first heard at age 12 while living in an internment camp. The definition impressed him with its "simplicity and clarity"

  2. The circle is the set of all pairs (x,y)(x,y) in the plane which satisfy the equation x2+y2=1x^2 + y^2 = 1.

  3. The circle is the set of all complex numbers which can be written eiθe^{i\theta} there θ\theta is some real number.

  4. A circle is a set which can be written as the image of a continuous function γ:[0,1]R2\gamma:[0,1]\to \mathbb{R}^2, where γ(0)=γ(1)\gamma(0) = \gamma(1) and γ\gamma is injective on the open interval (0,1)(0,1).

  5. A circle is the topological space SO(2)SO(2).

  6. The circle is the unique compact one dimensional real manifold without boundary.

  7. A circle is a one dimensional cell complex with one 00-cell and one 11-cell.

  8. A circle is the affine scheme SpecR[x,y]/(x2+y21)\operatorname{Spec} R[x,y]/(x^2 + y^2 - 1).

©Isaac Martin. Last modified: January 15, 2024.