MHB Ernesto's question at Yahoo Answers regarding finding a locus of points

  • Thread starter Thread starter MarkFL
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Points
MarkFL
Gold Member
MHB
Messages
13,284
Reaction score
12
Here is the question:

The sum of the lengths of the tangents from a point P to the circumferences...?


The sum of the lengths of the tangents from a point P to the circumferences:

C1 : x² + y² = 4

and

C2 : x² + y² = 9

is constant and equal to 5.
Determine the locus of the point P.

Explain.

Thanks.

I have posted a link there to this thread so the OP can view my work.
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
Hello Ernesto,

Let's orient a circle or radius $r$ centered at the origin, and place a point on the $x$-axis outside of the circle, and let it's distance from the origin be $d$. Drawing a tangent line from this point to the circle (in the first quadrant), we form a right triangle, since the tangent line is perpendicular to the radius of the circle drawn to the tangent point. Let $\ell$ be the length of this line segment. Hence, we may state:

$$r^2+\ell^2=d^2$$

Solving for $\ell$, we obtain:

$$\ell=\sqrt{d^2-r^2}$$

Now, observing that there is also a fourth quadrant tangent point, we may state that the sum $S$ of the lengths of the tangent line segments is:

$$S=2\sqrt{d^2-r^2}$$

Now, if we do this for two circles, one of radius $r_1$ and the other of radius $r_2$, we then have:

$$S=2\left(\sqrt{d^2-r_1^2}+\sqrt{d^2-r_2^2} \right)$$

In order to ease solving for $d$, let's write the equation as:

$$S-2\sqrt{d^2-r_2^2}=2\sqrt{d^2-r_1^2}$$

Squaring both sides of the equation, there results:

$$S^2-4S\sqrt{d^2-r_2^2}+4\left(d^2-r_2^2 \right)=4\left(d^2-r_1^2 \right)$$

Distributing and combining like terms, and isolating the term with the remaining radical we obtain:

$$4S\sqrt{d^2-r_2^2}=4r_1^2-4r_2^2+S^2$$

Squaring again, we obtain:

$$16S^2\left(d^2-r_2^2 \right)=\left(4r_1^2-4r_2^2+S^2 \right)^2$$

$$d^2=\frac{\left(4r_1^2-4r_2^2+S^2 \right)^2}{16S^2}+r_2^2=\frac{\left(4\left(r_1^2-r_2^2 \right)+S^2 \right)^2+\left(4r_2S \right)^2}{(4S)^2}$$

Now, since this will hold for any point that is a distance $d$ from the origin, which describes a circle centered at the origin having radius $d$, we then find the locus of points is:

$$x^2+y^2=\frac{\left(4\left(r_1^2-r_2^2 \right)+S^2 \right)^2+\left(4r_2S \right)^2}{(4S)^2}$$

Now, using the data given with the problem:

$$r_1=2,\,r_2=3,\,S=5$$

We find the locus of points is:

$$x^2+y^2=\left(\frac{\sqrt{145}}{4} \right)^2$$
 
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. In Dirac’s Principles of Quantum Mechanics published in 1930 he introduced a “convenient notation” he referred to as a “delta function” which he treated as a continuum analog to the discrete Kronecker delta. The Kronecker delta is simply the indexed components of the identity operator in matrix algebra Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/what-exactly-is-diracs-delta-function/ by...
Fermat's Last Theorem has long been one of the most famous mathematical problems, and is now one of the most famous theorems. It simply states that the equation $$ a^n+b^n=c^n $$ has no solutions with positive integers if ##n>2.## It was named after Pierre de Fermat (1607-1665). The problem itself stems from the book Arithmetica by Diophantus of Alexandria. It gained popularity because Fermat noted in his copy "Cubum autem in duos cubos, aut quadratoquadratum in duos quadratoquadratos, et...
I'm interested to know whether the equation $$1 = 2 - \frac{1}{2 - \frac{1}{2 - \cdots}}$$ is true or not. It can be shown easily that if the continued fraction converges, it cannot converge to anything else than 1. It seems that if the continued fraction converges, the convergence is very slow. The apparent slowness of the convergence makes it difficult to estimate the presence of true convergence numerically. At the moment I don't know whether this converges or not.
Back
Top