Is a line ax+by+c=0 tangent to a circle?

Get a line a form y=-ax/b-c/b, then substitute into a cirle equation (x-p)^2 +(y-s)^2=r^2. Get a quadratic and find whether a discriminant is equal to zero. If it is then the line is tangent to a circle. Otherwise, for d>0 the line cuts through two points on a circle, for d<0 the line has no common points with a circle.

JO

Related Maths A Level answers

All answers ▸

d/dx[sin(x) + cos(x)]


Find the equation of the tangent for x = 2cos (2y +pi)


Find the equation of the tangent to the curve y = (5x+4)/(3x-8) at the point (2, -7).


(C3 question). Find an expression for all stationary points on the curve y=sin(x)cos(x). How many such points are there and why?