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In Euclidean plane geometry, a tangent line to a circle is a line that touches the circle at exactly one point, never entering the circle's interior. Tangent lines to circles form the subject of several theorems , and play an important role in many geometrical constructions and proofs .
In geometry, tangent circles (also known as kissing circles) are circles in a common plane that intersect in a single point. There are two types of tangency : internal and external. Many problems and constructions in geometry are related to tangent circles; such problems often have real-life applications such as trilateration and maximizing the ...
The method hinges on the observation that the radius of a circle is always normal to the circle itself. With this in mind Descartes would construct a circle that was tangent to a given curve. He could then use the radius at the point of intersection to find the slope of a normal line, and from this one can easily find the slope of a tangent line.
A tangent, a chord, and a secant to a circle. The intuitive notion that a tangent line "touches" a curve can be made more explicit by considering the sequence of straight lines (secant lines) passing through two points, A and B, those that lie on the function curve. The tangent at A is the limit when point B approximates or tends to A. The ...
All tangent circles to the given circles can be found by varying line . Positions of the centers Circles tangent to two circles. If is the center and the radius of the circle, that is tangent to the given circles at the points ,, then:
If a tangent from an external point A meets the circle at F and a secant from the external point A meets the circle at C and D respectively, then AF 2 = AC × AD (tangent–secant theorem). The angle between a chord and the tangent at one of its endpoints is equal to one half the angle subtended at the centre of the circle, on the opposite side ...
A circle with 1st-order contact (tangent) A circle with 2nd-order contact (osculating) A circle with 3rd-order contact at a vertex of a curve. For each point S(t) on a smooth plane curve S, there is exactly one osculating circle, whose radius is the reciprocal of κ(t), the curvature of S at t.
The tangent-secant theorem can be proven using similar triangles (see graphic). Like the intersecting chords theorem and the intersecting secants theorem, the tangent-secant theorem represents one of the three basic cases of a more general theorem about two intersecting lines and a circle, namely, the power of point theorem.