Big Ideas Math Geometry, 2014
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Big Ideas Math Geometry, 2014 View details
Chapter Review
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Exercise 15 Page 583

A minor arc is an arc that measures less than 180. A major arc is an arc that measures greater than 180. A semicircle is an arc with endpoints that lie on a diameter.

mKM=160^(∘)

Practice makes perfect

An arc is a portion of a circle defined by two endpoints. A central angle separates the circle into two arcs — the major arc and the minor arc. These measures of these arcs are related to the measure of the central angle.

Arc Measure
A minor arc is the shortest arc connecting two endpoints on a circle. The measure is less than 180 and is equal to the measure of its related central angle.
A major arc is the longest arc connecting two endpoints on a circle. The measure is greater than 180 and is equal to 360 minus the measure of the minor arc with the same endpoints.
A semicircle is an arc with endpoints that lie on a diameter. The measure of a semicircle is 180.
Now, let's consider the given diagram. Note that LN is a diameter and therefore LMN is a semicircle. This means that mLMN=180^(∘)

The arc we are looking at is KM. It is the shortest arc that connects the endpoints K and M. Therefore, KM is a minor arc. To find it's measure, we will need to use the Arc Addition Postulate. With this postulate and knowing that mLMN=180^(∘) and mMN=120^(∘), we can find mLM.

Arc Addition Postulate Substitute Solve
mLM+mMN=mLMN mLM+120=180 mLM= 60

Let's add the obtained measure to our diagram.

Finally, using the Arc Addition Postulate once more, we can find mKM.
mKL+mLM=mKM
100+ 60=mKM
160=mKM
mKM=160