Lecture Notes Circles page 1

Sample Problems
1. Find an equation for the circle centered at (2; 1) with radius r = 5 units.
2. Graph the equation 10x + x2 + y 2 = 6 (y 5).
3. Find the coordinates of all points where the circle x2 + (y 3)2 = 50 and the line y = 2x + 8
intersect each other.
4. Consider the circle x2 + y 2 = 10. Find an equation for the tangent line drawn to the circle at the
point (3; 1).
5. Find the points where the circles (x + 2)2 + (y + 2)2 = 50 and (x 2)2 + (y 1)2 = 25 intersect
each other.
6. Consider the circles x2 + y 2 = 36 and (x 5)2 + y 2 = 16. Let C be the intersection of the two
common tangent lines drawn to the circle.
a) Find the coordinates of C.
b) Consider one of the common tangent lines. Find the distance between the points of tangency.
7. Given are the points A ( 3; 0) and B (0; 4). Consider the circle x2 + y 2 16x 4y + 43 = 0:
Find the tangent lines that are parallel with line segment AB.

Practice Problems
1. Find an equation for each of the following circles. C will denote the center and r the radius.
p
a) C (6; 0) r = 7 b) C (0; 2) r = 2 c) C ( 8; 3) r = 3
2. Graph the equation x2 + y 2 + 14y = 4 (x + y 1)
3. Find the coordinates of all point(s) where the circle and the line intersect each other.
a) (x + 5)2 + (y 7)2 = 8 and x + y = 6 c) x2 + (y + 4)2 = 25 and y = x 24
2 2 2 2
b) (x 2) + (y + 1) = 50 and y = x+9 d) (x 3) + (y + 1) = 25 and y = x+1
4. Given the equation of a circle and a point P on it, …nd an equation for the tangent line drawn to
the circle at the point P .
a) x2 + y 2 = 100.and P ( 8; 6) b) (x 3)2 + (y + 3)2 = 50 and P (10; 4)
5. Find the coordinates of all points where the given circles intersect each other.
a) (x 1)2 + (y 2)2 = 10 and (x 10)2 + (y 5)2 = 40
b) (x 3)2 + y 2 = 20 and x2 + (y 1)2 = 50
c) x2 + (y 8)2 = 26 and (x 7)2 + (y 3)2 = 4
6. Consider the circles (x + 5)2 + y 2 = 100 and x2 + y 2 = 49. Let C be the intersection of the two
common tangent lines drawn to the circle.
a) Find the coordinates of C.
b) Consider one of the common tangent lines. Find the distance between the points of tangency.

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2008 Last revised: November 5, 2009

Lecture Notes Circles page 2

Sample Problems - Answers

1.) (x 2)2 + (y + 1)2 = 25 2.) (x + 5)2 + (y 3)2 = 4 3.) ( 1; 10) and (5; 2)
p
4.) y = 3x + 10 5.) ( 1; 5) and (5; 3) 6.) a) (15; 0) b) 21
4 13 4
7.) y = x+ and y = x + 21
3 3 3

Practice Problems - Answers

1.) a) (x 6)2 + y 2 = 49 b) x2 + (y + 2)2 = 4 c) (x + 8)2 + (y 3)2 = 3

2.) (x 2)2 + (y + 5)2 = 25 center: (2; 5) radius: 5

3.) a) ( 3; 9) b) (3; 6) and (9; 0) c) they don’t intersect d) ( 1; 2) and (6; 5)

4 4 50
4.) (x + 8) = y 6 or y = x + b) 7 (x 10) = y + 4 or y = 7x 74
3 3 3
5.) a) (4; 3) b) (7; 2) and (5; 4) c) the circles do not intersect

35
6.) a) ;0 b) 4
3

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2008 Last revised: November 5, 2009

Lecture Notes Circles page 3

Sample Problems - Solutions

1. Find an equation for the circle centered at (2; 1) with radius r = 5 units.
Solution: Let P (x; y) be a general point on the circle. If the point P is on the circle, then it
must be 5 units away from the point C (2; 1) : Consider the right triangle shown on the picture
below. The sides of this triangle are jx 2j, jy + 1j, and 5: The Pyhtagorean theorem, stated
for this triangle is (x 2)2 + (y + 1)2 = 25; which is the equation for the circle.

2. Graph the equation 10x + x2 + y 2 = 6 (y 5)

Solution: Complete the squares to read the center and radius.

10x + x2 + y 2 = 6 (y 5)
10x + x2 + y 2 = 6y 30
x2 + 10x + y 2 6y = 30
2 2
x
| + 10x
{z + 25} 25 + y| 6y + 9 9 = 30
{z }
2 2
(x + 5) + (y 3) 34 = 30
(x + 5) + (y 3)2
2
= 4

Thus the center is ( 5; 3) and the radius 2:

y
10

0
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2

-2

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2008 Last revised: November 5, 2009

Lecture Notes Circles page 4

3. Find the coordinates of all points where the circle x2 + (y 3)2 = 50 and the line y = 2x + 8
intersect each other.
Solution: We need to solve the following system of equations:

x2 + (y 3)2 = 50
y = 2x + 8

We will use substitution. We substitute y = 2x + 8 in the …rst equation and solve for x.

x2 + ( 2x + 8 3)2 = 50 5x2 20x 25 = 0

x2 + ( 2x + 5)2 = 50 5 x2 4x 5 = 0
x2 + 4x2 20x + 25 = 50 5 (x 5) (x + 1) = 0
5x2 20x + 25 = 50 x1 = 5 x2 = 1

We now use the second equation to …nd the y value belonging to the x values we just obtained.
If x = 5, then y = 2 (5) + 8 = 2: If x = 1, then y = 2 ( 1) + 8 = 10: Thus the two points
are (5; 2) and ( 1; 10). We check: both points should be on both the circle and the line.

4. Consider the circle x2 + y 2 = 10. Find an equation for the tangent line drawn to the circle at the
point (3; 1).
Solution: The tangent line is perpendicular to the radius drawn to the point of tangency. We
can easily …nd the slope of this radius: the slope of the line segment connecting (0; 0) and (3; 1)
1
is since
3
rise y2 y1 1 0 1
slope = m = = = =
run x2 x1 3 0 3
1
The tangent line then must have slope 3; the negative reciprocal of . It mus also pass through
3
the point (3; 1) : The point-slope form of this line’s equation is then y 1 = 3 (x 3) : We
simplify this and obtain y = 3x + 10.

5. Find the points where the circles (x + 2)2 + (y + 2)2 = 50 and (x 2)2 + (y 1)2 = 25 intersect
each other.
Solution: We need to solve the following system:

(x + 2)2 + (y + 2)2 = 50
(x 2)2 + (y 1)2 = 25

We …rst multiply out the complete squares, combine like terms, and reduce the right-hand sides
to zero. The …rst equation:

x2 + 4x + 4 + y 2 + 4y + 4 50 = 0
x2 + 4x + y 2 + 4y 42 = 0

Similarly, the second equation

x2 4x + 4 + y 2 2y + 1 25 = 0
x2 4x + y 2 2y 20 = 0

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2008 Last revised: November 5, 2009

Lecture Notes Circles page 5

We will multiply the second equation by 1 and add the two equations. This will cancel out all
quadratic terms.

x2 + 4x + y 2 + 4y 42 = 0
x2 + 4x y 2 + 2y + 20 = 0

The sum of the two equations is

8x + 6y 22 = 0 divide both sides by 2

4x + 3y 11 = 0

We now solve for y

4x + 11 4 11
y= = x+
3 3 3
We substitute this into the …rst equation and solve for x
4 11
(x + 2)2 + (y + 2)2 = 50 and y= x+
3 3
0 12
B 4 11 C 11 17
(x + 2)2 + B
@ 3 x + + 2C
A = 50 +2=
| {z } 3 3 3
y
2
2 4x + 17
(x + 2) + = 50
3
( 4x + 17) 2
2 a 2 a2
(x + 2) + = 50 since =
32 b b2
( 4x + 17) 2
(x + 2)2 + = 50 multiply by 9
9
9 (x + 2) + ( 4x + 17)2
2
= 450
9 x2 + 4x + 4 + 16x2 136x + 289 = 450
9x2 + 36x + 36 + 16x2 136x + 289 = 450
25x2 100x 125 = 0
25 x2 4x 5 = 0
25 (x 5) (x + 1) = 0 =) x1 = 5 x2 = 1
4 11
We now …nd the y values belonging to the x values, using y = x+ or better yet,
3 3
4x + 11 4 (5) + 11 4 ( 1) + 11
y= : If x = 5; then y = = 3 and if x = 1, then y = = 5:
3 3 3
Thus the two circles intersect at the points ( 1; 5) and (5; 3) :

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2008 Last revised: November 5, 2009

Lecture Notes Circles page 6

y
10

0
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10

-2 x

-4

-6

-8

-10

6. Consider the circles x2 + y 2 = 36 and (x 5)2 + y 2 = 16. Let C be the intersection of the two
common tangent lines drawn to the circle.
a) Find the coordinates of C.
Solution: Using the notation shown on the picture below, triangles ACE and BCD are similar.
6 x+5
Based on that, we write the equation = : The solution of this equation is 10: Thus C is
4 x
(15; 0).

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2008 Last revised: November 5, 2009

Lecture Notes Circles page 7

b) Consider one of the common tangent lines. Find the distance between the point of tangency.
Solution: We draw a horizontal line through the point D. Let us denote the intersection of AE
and the horizontal line by P . The quadrilateral ABDP is a parallelogram since opposite sides
are parallel. Consequently, opposite sides are equally long. This means that AP p = 4 and so
P E = 2: Also, P D = 5: We can now compute y via the Pythagorean theorem: y = 21.

7. Given are the points A ( 3; 0) and B (0; 4). Consider the circle x2 + y 2 16x 4y + 43 = 0:
Find the tangent lines that are parallel with line segment AB.
Solution: The circle is

x2 + y 2 16x 4y + 43 = 0
x2 16x + y 2 4y + 43 = 0
x2 16x + 64 64 + y 2 4y + 4 4 + 43 = 0
(x 8)2 + (y 2)2 = 25

Thus the center is (8; 2) and the radius is 5. The slope of the line segment AB :
y2 y1 4 0 4
m= = =
x2 x1 0 ( 3) 3

The tangent line and the radius drawn to the point of tangency are perpendicular: thus we want
a straight line that is perpendicular to the line segment AB and passes through the center. This
3
means a slope of ; and passing through (8; 2) : The point-slope form of this line is y 2 =
4
3
(x 8) : We intersect this with the circle to …nd the points of tangency, i.e. solve the system
4
(
(x 8)2 + (y 2)2 = 25
3
y 2 = (x 8)
4

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2008 Last revised: November 5, 2009

Lecture Notes Circles page 8

2
2 3
(x 8) + (x 8) = 25
4
9 9 25
(x 8)2 + (x 8)2 = 25 1+ =
16 16 16
25
(x 8)2 = 25 divide by 25
16
1
(x 8)2 = 1 multiply by 16
16
(x 8)2 = 16 subtract 16
(x 8)2 16 = 0
(x 8 + 4) (x 8 4) = 0
(x 4) (x 12) = 0 =) x1 = 4 x2 = 12
3
We …nd the y values: when x = 4; then y 2 = (4 8) =) y1 = 1; and when x = 12;
4
3
then y 2 = (12 8) =) y2 = 5: Thus the points of tangency are (4; 1) and (12; 5). The
4
slope of both tangent lines must be the same as that of line segment AB. Thus the tangent lines:
4 4
m = T1 = (4; 1) =) y+1= (x 4)
3 3
4 4
m = T1 = (12; 5) =) y 5= (x 12)
3 3
4 13 4
After simplifying these equations we get y = x+ and y = x + 21
3 3 3

y 12

10

0
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

-2 x

-4

-6

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c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2008 Last revised: November 5, 2009