The activity in this section will illustrate arc length.

A bag of M&Ms contains 25 M&Ms in 5 colors, shown below.

The M&Ms are arranged by color just inside of the circumference of circle P.

The radii are between the different colored M&Ms creating sectors in the circle. An example of sectors is when a pie is cut into pieces.

Fill in the blanks. Click on the blanks to reveal the answers.

• There are ____ 25 M&Ms in the circle.
• There are ____ 6 red M&Ms in the circle.
• A fraction or ratio of red M&Ms to all the M&Ms is ____ 6 25 .
• There are ____ 5 blue M&Ms.
• The blue M&Ms are ____ 5 25 = 1 5 of the whole M&Ms' circle.
• There are ____ 6 green M&Ms.
• The green M&Ms are ____ 6 25 of the whole M&Ms' circle.
• There are ____ 4 yellow M&Ms.
• The yellow M&Ms are ____ 4 25 of the whole M&Ms' circle.
• There are ____ 4 brown M&Ms.
• The brown M&Ms are ____ 4 25 of the whole M&Ms' circle.
• The sum of all the fractional parts for all five colors of M&Ms is ____________________ 6 25 + 5 25 + 6 25 + 4 25 + 4 25 = 25 25 = 1 , the entire circle or the circumference.
• The different colored M&Ms create different arcs of the circle. The arc lengths add up to the ____ circumference of the circle.

The arc is a curved line that is part of the circumference of the circle. The arc length is the measure or length of the arc.