- #1
Firepanda
- 430
- 0
Sorry title was supposed to be Conic Sections, but my I key is sticky :)
I had a question today, It went somethng like this:
An epllipse of equation ((x^2)/4) + y^2 = 1
Find the equation of the tangent which passes through point P: (4,0)
Well this was a mock exam question, where no answers were available. I keep stumbing on questions of this format and I can never do them.
There is bound to be a routine to go through when caculating something like this and it would be great to know it.
So far I have differentiate implicitly to get dy/dx = -x/4y, point P isn't on the curve, so I have to find (x,y) point on the curve that joins it and P as a tangent.
Any help? Thanks
I had a question today, It went somethng like this:
An epllipse of equation ((x^2)/4) + y^2 = 1
Find the equation of the tangent which passes through point P: (4,0)
Well this was a mock exam question, where no answers were available. I keep stumbing on questions of this format and I can never do them.
There is bound to be a routine to go through when caculating something like this and it would be great to know it.
So far I have differentiate implicitly to get dy/dx = -x/4y, point P isn't on the curve, so I have to find (x,y) point on the curve that joins it and P as a tangent.
Any help? Thanks