Is it possible to draw a perfect circle

[Rebelius]

a mathematically perfect circle would be impossible to draw, since none exist in the real world.

 

[DarkShadow]

Skill, I use mouse with my right and draw with my left

 

[whitecrook]

here is my effort:


O

 

[whitecrook]

My hand happens to be a compass.

looks circular to me... how is this an elipse? Sure you peeps aren't running 1280x1024 on a 4:3 screen?

 

[Hxc]

Strictly speaking perfect circles don't exist

Exactly what I was going to say

 

[Raikiri]

looks circular to me... how is this an elipse? Sure you peeps aren't running 1280x1024 on a 4:3 screen?

We're quite sure

The grey is a circle.

 

[Droolinggimp]

Out of interest, why isnt there such thing as a perfect circle?

 

[Ricochet J]

Out of interest, why isnt there such thing as a perfect circle?

A random guess - because a circle has infinate tangents and infinite normals to the tangent and thus, impossible to draw infinity.

 

[Droolinggimp]

Wooooooosh

 

[whitecrook]

We're quite sure

The grey is a circle.

Roger that. I just couldn't be bothered actually verifying it for myself

 

[Duke]

 

[Droolinggimp]

These circle MSpaint pictures your all doing, how fast/slow are you drawing them? I have had numerous tries and they are all pretty good.. albiet drawing slowish...

 

[Spyhop]

ha ha i did it

 

[Duff-Man]

Since the universe is fundamentally discretised at the smallest lengthscales, and that at much larger (but still tiny) scales position and momentum are indeterminate, the answer is no. It is not possible to draw a 'perfect' circle free hand or otherwise.

But pedantics aside, no - it isn't possible to draw a perfect circle freehand. If you look closely enough there will always be imperfections. It is possible to do so in MS paint though, having a finite number of pixels.

And I'm way too crap to try in ms paint

 

[PeterT]

I do the big one on the blackboard lots at work when we are teaching how to do pie charts. It is quite easy get it circular and it always amazes the pupils. I cannot do a small one at all though!

PeterT

 

[Alan!]

...

 

[Duff-Man]

Eh, is this similar to the fact that if you cut a cone the two cut faces dont have the same surface area?

Not really - this is a limit of our physical reality (quantum mechanics tells us that position and momentum are uncertain at the smallest lengthscales). That cone thing is more related to the old 0.9999999999... = 1 argument.

 

[Haiku]

The best of many attempts.

 

[Spyhop]

There's that nice illustration of infinity - however close you think the points on the perimeter of a circle are, extending a line out through them to a larger circle shows that there was room for more

 

[gillywibble]

Not really - this is a limit of our physical reality (quantum mechanics tells us that position and momentum are uncertain at the smallest lengthscales). That cone thing is more related to the old 0.9999999999... = 1 argument.

If there is uncertainty at the smallest lengthscales, then it must be possible?

My effort -