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It is relatively straightforward to construct a line t tangent to a circle at a point T on the circumference of the circle: A line a is drawn from O, the center of the circle, through the radial point T; The line t is the perpendicular line to a. Construction of a tangent to a given circle (black) from a given exterior point (P).
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.
The tangent plane to a surface at a given point p is defined in an analogous way to the tangent line in the case of curves. It is the best approximation of the surface by a plane at p , and can be obtained as the limiting position of the planes passing through 3 distinct points on the surface close to p as these points converge to p .
Constructing a tangent using Thales's theorem. Thales's theorem can be used to construct the tangent to a given circle that passes through a given point. In the figure at right, given circle k with centre O and the point P outside k, bisect OP at H and draw the circle of radius OH with centre H.
Kissing circles. Given three mutually tangent circles (black), there are, in general, two possible answers (red) as to what radius a fourth tangent circle can have. In geometry, Descartes' theorem states that for every four kissing, or mutually tangent, circles, the radii of the circles satisfy a certain quadratic equation. By solving this ...
Tangent lines to circles; Circle packing theorem, the result that every planar graph may be realized by a system of tangent circles; Hexafoil, the shape formed by a ring of six tangent circles; Feuerbach's theorem on the tangency of the nine-point circle of a triangle with its incircle and excircles; Descartes' theorem; Ford circle; Bankoff circle
The sine and tangent small-angle approximations are used in relation to the double-slit experiment or a diffraction grating to develop simplified equations like the following, where y is the distance of a fringe from the center of maximum light intensity, m is the order of the fringe, D is the distance between the slits and projection screen ...
A circle is tangent to a point if it passes through the point, and tangent to a line if they intersect at a single point P or if the line is perpendicular to a radius drawn from the circle's center to P. Circles tangent to two given points must lie on the perpendicular bisector. Circles tangent to two given lines must lie on the angle bisector.