. The area of a circle is dependent on the length of its radius, so the problem here is to determine which circle could have the largest radius. To cut a circle out of a rectangular piece of paper, you must draw a circle whose radius is no greater than any of the sides of the rectangle. This is because the radius extends equally from the center of the circle in all directions. So even though the width of the rectangle in column B is 5″, its length is only 3.2″, which is smaller than the sides of the square in column A (3.4″). Thus a circle with a larger radius—and, therefore, greater area—could be cut from the square in column A. So the answer is a.