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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 .
The tangent line to the unit circle at the point A, is perpendicular to , and intersects the y - and x-axes at points = (,) and = (,). The coordinates of these points give the values of all trigonometric functions for any arbitrary real value of θ in the following manner.
The tangent line is said to be "going in the same direction" as the curve, and is thus the best straight-line approximation to the curve at that point. 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 ...
A tangent can be considered a limiting case of a secant whose ends are coincident. 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).
Due to the Pythagorean theorem the number () has the simple geometric meanings shown in the diagram: For a point outside the circle () is the squared tangential distance | | of point to the circle . Points with equal power, isolines of Π ( P ) {\displaystyle \Pi (P)} , are circles concentric to circle c {\displaystyle c} .
The point of osculation is also called the double cusp. Contact is a geometric notion; it can be defined algebraically as a valuation. One speaks also of curves and geometric objects having k-th order contact at a point: this is also called osculation (i.e. kissing), generalising the property of being tangent. (Here the derivatives are ...
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 ...
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 ...