Ask Me Help Desk - Write the standard form for the circle

Not sure what the 'p' and 'q' are supposed to mean - is 'p' the center and 'q' a point on the circle?

The general form for a circle is

$<br /> R^2 = (x-x_0)^2 + (y-y_0)^2<br />$

where $(x_0, y_0)$ is the center of the circle and R is the radius. You can get the radius using Pythagorus: if $(a,b)$ is a point of the circle and $(x_0,y_0)$ is the center, then

$<br /> R^2 = (a-x_0)^2 + (b-y_0)^2<br />$

Do you see why that is?