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@BeauNidle
A lighthouse keeper needs a new carpet. His room is ring shaped as the lighthouse has a central column. The only measurement that he can make is the length of the chord from the outer wall to the other side touching the central column.
His carpet fitter can't work out how to calculate the square footage of carpet he needs to generate a quote for the lighthouse keeper, so consults an old mate who's a famous mathematician.
After a couple of days the mathematician calls back and says "I've worked out the formula that calculates the area of carpet from just the chord measurement! The formula is" at which point the carpet fitter stops him and says "don't worry, from what you've said I know what the area is!"
Let's say, hypothetically, that the length of the chord was 20 feet, how many square feet of carpet did the carpet fitter quote for?