The definition of a circle is the set of all points equidistant from a fixed point, which is the center

of the circle. Circles are therefore dependent on the concept of distance, and because taxicab
distance is different than Euclidean distance, a circle in taxicab geometry is vastly different than
its Euclidean counterpart. In fact, a taxicab circle is a square from Euclidean geometry.

Why is this the case? In the case of the Euclidean circle, the distance from the center to the set
of points on the circle is the radius:



With taxicab distance, the radius does not consists of the length of a single segment but instead
consists of the lengths of horizontal and vertical segments. For example, if the radius of a
taxicab circle is 4, the circle would consist of of the point that is 4 units vertically away, 2 units
horizontally and 2 units vertically away, 1 unit horizontally and 3 units vertically away, and so
forth:



The following are the steps necessary to create a custom tool in Geometers Sketchpad that will
enable the user to construct a taxicab circle given the center and the radius:

1. In a new sketch, construct a line segment with two endpoints. Label these points A and
B. Construct another point and label it C.
2. Calculate the length AB.
3. Perform four translations of point C by selecting Translate from the Transform
dropdown menu. These should be horizontally left, horizontally right, vertically up, and
vertically down, all by AB cm. This can also be accomplished by performing one of these
translations and then rotating 90 degrees three times for each transformation of C.
4. Connect each of the following to create four segments: C and C, C and C, C and
C, and C and C. Hide the labels if necessary.
5. Hide the length of AB. The user may now create the custom tool.



In Euclidean Geometry, the equation for a circle is given by the following equation:

where the center of the circle is (a,b) and the radius is r.

The corresponding equation for a taxicab circle is given by the following equation:

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with the same center and radius. Below is the graph of the two equations where a, b, and r are
all 1:




At first glance, these equations are fairly similar. Both equations depend on obtaining positive
values, whether this is by squaring or taking the absolute value. In fact, if we take the taxicab
equation and square each term such that:

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we actually obtain the graph of a Euclidean circle (all values are still 1):



Squaring each of these terms converts the sum of the horizontal and vertical distances, which
would equal the radius of a taxicab circle, to the shortest distance from the center to the outside
of the circle, which would be the radius of the Euclidean circle.