HUMAN AND ANIMAL VISION

In the context of human vision, the term field of view is typically used in the sense of a restriction to what is visible by external
apparatus, like spectacles[2] or virtual reality goggles. Note that eye movements do not change the field of view.
If the analogy of the eyes retina working as a sensor is drawn upon, the corresponding concept in human (and much of animal
vision) is the visual field.[3] It is defined as the number of degrees of visual angle during stable fixation of the eyes.[4] Note that eye
movements are excluded in the definition. Different animals have different visual fields, depending, among others, on the placement
of the eyes.Humans have an almost 180-degree forward-facing horizontal diameter of their visual field, while some birds have a
complete or nearly complete 360-degree visual field. The vertical range of the visual field in humans is typically around 135 degrees.
The range of visual abilities is not uniform across the visual field, and varies from animal to animal. For example, binocular vision,
which is the basis for stereopsis and is important for depth perception, covers only 114 degrees (horizontally) of the visual field in
humans;[5] the remaining peripheral 6070 degrees have no binocular vision (because only one eye can see those parts of the visual
field). Some birds have a scant 10 or 20 degrees of binocular vision.

Similarly, color vision and the ability to perceive shape and motion vary across the visual field; in humans the former is concentrated
in the center of the visual field, while the latter tends to be much stronger in the periphery. The physiological basis for that is the
much higher concentration of color-sensitive cone cells and color-sensitive parvocellular retinal ganglion cells in the fovea the
central region of the retina in comparison to the higher concentration of color-insensitive rod cells and motionsensitive magnocellular retinal ganglion cells in the visual periphery. Since cone cells require considerably brighter light sources to
be activated, the result of this distribution is further that peripheral vision is much more sensitive at night relative to foveal vision. [3]

Most geometry so far has involved triangles and quadrilaterals, which are formed by
intervals on lines, and we turn now to the geometry of circles. Lines and circles are the
most elementary figures of geometry a line is the locus of a point moving in a
constant direction, and a circle is the locus of a point moving at a constant distance
from some fixed point and all our constructions are done by drawing lines with a
straight edge and circles with compasses. Tangents are introduced in this module, and
later tangents become the basis of differentiation in calculus.
The theorems of circle geometry are not intuitively obvious to the student, in fact most
people are quite surprised by the results when they first see them. They clearly need to
be proven carefully, and the cleverness of the methods of proof developed in earlier
modules is clearly displayed in this module. The logic becomes more involved division
into cases is often required, and results from different parts of previous geometry
modules are often brought together within the one proof. Students traditionally learn a
greater respect and appreciation of the methods of mathematics from their study of this
imaginative geometric material.

The theoretical importance of circles is reflected in the amazing number and variety of
situations in science where circles are used to model physical phenomena. Circles are
the first approximation to the orbits of planets and of their moons, to the movement of
electrons in an atom, to the motion of a vehicle around a curve in the road, and to the
shapes of cyclones and galaxies. Spheres and cylinders are the first approximation of
the shape of planets and stars, of the trunks of trees, of an exploding fireball, and of a
drop of water, and of manufactured objects such as wires, pipes, ball-bearings,
balloons, pies and wheels.
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CONTENT
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RADII AND CHORDS

We begin by recapitulating the definition of a circle and the terminology used for circles.
Throughout this module, all geometry is assumed to be within a fixed plane.

A circle is the set of all points in the plane that are a fixed distance (the radius)
from a fixed point (the centre).

Any interval joining a point on the circle to the

centre is called a radius. By the definition of a circle, any two radii have the
same length. Notice that the word radius is being used to refer both to these
intervals and to the common length of these intervals.

An interval joining two points on the circle is called achord.

A chord that passes through the centre is called a diameter. Since a diameter
consists of two radii joined at their endpoints, every diameter has length equal to

twice the radius. The word diameter is use to refer both to these intervals and
to their common length.

A line that cuts a circle at two distinct points is called a secant. Thus a chord is
the interval that the circle cuts off a secant, and a diameter is the interval cut off
by a secant passing through the centre of a circle centre.

Symmetries of a circle
Circles have an abundance of symmetries:

A circle has every possible rotation symmetry about its

centre, in that every rotation of the circle about its
centre rotates the circle onto itself.

If AOB is a diameter of a circle with centre O, then the

reflection in the line AOB reflects the circle onto itself.
Thus every diameter of the circle is an axis of symmetry.

As a result of these symmetries, any point P on a circle

can be moved to any other point Q on the circle. This can
be done by a rotation through the angle =

POQ about

the centre. It can also be done by a reflection in the diameter

AOB bisecting

POQ. Thus every point on a circle is essentially

the same as every other point on the circle no other figure in

the plane has this property except for lines.