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Tangent to a curve. The red line is tangential to the curve at the point marked by a red dot. Tangent plane to a sphere. In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is, intuitively, the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point.
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 analytic geometry, an asymptote (/ ˈ æ s ɪ m p t oʊ t /) of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as one or both of the x or y coordinates tends to infinity. In projective geometry and related contexts, an asymptote of a curve is a line which is tangent to the curve at a point at infinity ...
In geometry, the tangential angle of a curve in the Cartesian plane, at a specific point, is the angle between the tangent line to the curve at the given point and the x-axis. [1] (Some authors define the angle as the deviation from the direction of the curve at some fixed starting point.
The tangent line through a point P on the circle is perpendicular to the diameter passing through P. If P = (x 1, y 1) and the circle has centre (a, b) and radius r, then the tangent line is perpendicular to the line from (a, b) to (x 1, y 1), so it has the form (x 1 − a)x + (y 1 – b)y = c.
An osculating curve from a given family of curves is a curve that has the highest possible order of contact with a given curve at a given point; for instance a tangent line is an osculating curve from the family of lines, and has first-order contact with the given curve; an osculating circle is an osculating curve from the family of circles ...
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 " infinitesimally adjacent" curves, meaning the limit of intersections of ...
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 ...