This article will outline a proof for the following theorem.

Theorem. The rectangle with the greatest area that can be inscribed in a circle is a square.
Proof. We construct a circle
lengths and .

of radius , inscribed in which is rectangle

We define a function for the area of

with arguments

with side

and ,

Finding where this function is maximised will give the side lengths that create the largest
area. Since
is a diameter of , the segment
Because all angles of a rectangle are
right angles,
is a right angle and triangle
is a right triangle. By the Pythagorean
theorem,
. Solving for we get
. The negative solution
can be ignored because the length of a segment must be positive. Substituting this into the
area function we get

When
, no rectangle can be formed. When
no inscribed rectangle can be
formed. Thus, the domain of
is
. This function is continuous and
differentiable on its domain. Differentiating with respect to gives us

Factoring out

we get

Then eliminating the negative exponent gives us

Finding where

or does not exist will give us the critical points of

exists there. The derivative of

Solving for we get

will be equal to

The function
is continuous on
, therefore
is a critical point of
. The derivative of
. Solving for we get

whenever

provided
.

exists at
. Thus
will not exist whenever

The function
does not exist at
, therefore it is not a critical point. By the
intermediate value theorem, the derivative of a continuous function cannot change sign
except at a critical point of that function. As a consequence of this,
at

. Evaluating

at

gives us

This quantity is positive, therefore the derivative of

Evaluating

at

can only change sign

is positive to the left of

gives us

This quantity is negative, therefore the derivative of

is negative to the right of
If the derivative of a continuous function is positive to the left of some critical point and
negative to the right of the same critical point, that critical point is a relative maximum;
therefore,
is a relative maximum of
If a point is the only critical point on
some interval of a continuous and differentiable
and that point is a relative maximum,
1
then it must be a absolute maximum of
on . Thus,
is an absolute maximum
of
on
. If
, then the value of can be determined from the
previously obtained relation

Substituting

we get
.

The equation
is true for any given , therefore
is maximised when and
are equal. A rectangle with sides of equal length is a square, therefore the rectangle with the
greatest area that can be inscribed in a circle is a square.

Notes
1. Lemma. If a continuous and differentiable function
on some open interval
has exactly one critical point and that critical point is a relative maximum, that critical point
is a global maximum.
Proof. Let us define
to be the only critical point and a relative maximum of
on
. Suppose there exists some
. Since
is a relative maximum, there
must exist some point between and such that
. By the intermediate value
theorem, there must exist some between and such that
=
. All of these points
must exist on some interval
where is an arbitrarily small constant. Since
is a subset of , the function
is continuous and differentiable on . By Rolle's theorem,
there must exist some value on
such that
has a critical point on . Our
initial assumption was that
has exactly one critical point on , therefore a contradiction
is reached and an
cannot exist.