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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. Since the tangent line to a circle at a point P is ...
The tangent line to a point on a differentiable curve can also be thought of as a tangent line approximation, the graph of the affine function that best approximates the original function at the given point. [3] Similarly, the tangent plane to a surface at a given point is the plane that "just touches" the surface at that point.
Vertical tangent. Vertical tangent on the function ƒ (x) at x = c. In mathematics, particularly calculus, a vertical tangent is a tangent line that is vertical. Because a vertical line has infinite slope, a function whose graph has a vertical tangent is not differentiable at the point of tangency.
A vector field defines a direction and magnitude at each point in space. A field line is an integral curve for that vector field and may be constructed by starting at a point and tracing a line through space that follows the direction of the vector field, by making the field line tangent to the field vector at each point. [3][2][1] A field line ...
These are an infinite family of circles tangent to the -axis of the Cartesian coordinate system at its rational points. Each fraction / (in lowest terms) has a circle tangent to the line at the point (/,) with curvature . Three of these curvatures, together with the zero curvature of the axis, meet the conditions of Descartes' theorem whenever ...
The curve was first proposed and studied by René Descartes in 1638. [1] Its claim to fame lies in an incident in the development of calculus.Descartes challenged Pierre de Fermat to find the tangent line to the curve at an arbitrary point since Fermat had recently discovered a method for finding tangent lines.
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
Envelope (mathematics) Construction of the envelope of a family of curves. In geometry, an envelope of a planar family of curves is a curve that is tangent to each member of the family at some point, and these points of tangency together form the whole envelope. Classically, a point on the envelope can be thought of as the intersection of two ...