Warren wrote:
I have a yard area that I want to put a circular raised be in. The area is
sort of a wedge with the tip chopped-off, except that one of the sides (the
west) is along side a driveway that flares into the area as it approaches
the south side (the street).

The south side is 10' long. The east side is 31' long. The north side is 30'
long. The west side is two segments, with a very obtuse angle (not quite a
straight line); the north segment on the west side is 14' long, and the
south segment is 10' long. The northwest and southeast corners are
90-degrees. The northeast corner is a little acute. The southwest corner is
a little obtuse.

I want to create the biggest circle I can that touches the east, south (the
street), and west (the driveway) sides. (It should not touch the north
side.)

If things don't add-up right, keep in mind that the measurements were
rounded to the nearest half-foot, and the exact location of the northeast
corner could be off slightly.

How big should the circle be?

My guess is that it's going to be around 11' or 12' in diameter. The problem
is that because of what's planted where, and when I can do the work, I'll
need to dig-up, and layout the northeast 2/3 of the circle before I can
clear the southwest 1/3. I can guess at a center point, and sweep a string
along that 2/3 of the northeast side, but I can't sweep it over the
southwest 1/3 to be sure it touches both the south and the west side, but
doesn't go over either. There's only so much I'll be able to fudge the
circle without people noticing it's not really round.

So is there anyone out there who did better in geometry class than I did who
can tell me how close I am?

Thanks


I didn't do real good at geometry class, either, but I think I did come
up with a reasonable scale drawing of the space you described. If I'm
close, then a 12' diameter circle will NOT be big enough to do what you
want it to. The center of such a circle would need to be 6' up from the
street and 6' in from the driveway if it's going to touch both, and it's
not going to touch the west/northwest "almost straight" boundary at all.

Instead, you're going to need something closer to 17-18' in diameter
(about 8.5' in radius) centered 8.5-9' north of the street edge and
8.5-9' west of the driveway edge.

I'd suggest you draw out your own scale drawing, though--not too hard to
do if you cut out line segments of the appropriate length, lay down the
easy parts first (south and east side) and then test position the other
three segments until you get a mostly right angle in the northwest.