Start by dividing a circle into sixteen sections like an orange. We know that together they add up to the area of the whole circle.
Now take all the green sections and line them up next to each other like the bottom teeth of some wild animal. On top of them, line up all the orange pieces like the top teeth of the animal. Then fit the sections together as if the animal had closed his mouth.
All the teeth together look almost like a rectangle. The short side of this rectangle is the radius of the circle. The long side of the rectangle is half of the circumference of the circle, or 2πr. What if we multiply them together to get the area of the rectangle? Then we get r (πr) or πr-squared – the area of a circle.
If we cut our circle into smaller sections, our rectangle will be straighter, but this is enough to see what it would be like.
Want to see more about the development of the concept of pi, or a proof that the circumference of a circle is