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Tangent circles
Angles inside circles
Power of a point
Geometry
Circles
Misha Lavrov
Warm-up problems
Warm-up solutions
1 A horizontal line 1 inch above the table.
2 Let X and Y be the centers of the circle. Lift AB to XZ as in
the diagram below.
X Z
A B
E
D
C
A B
Misha Lavrov Geometry
Warm-up
Problem
Tangent circles
Solution
Angles inside circles
Challenge
Power of a point
A1
C C2
B B C1
O
Y
P
X A
Solutions
³ ´
1 By Theorem 1, ∠A = 12 BCÙ + CDÙ + DE
Ù + EFØ and similarly for
other angles. If we add up such equations for ∠A + ∠C + ∠E ,
we get AB
Ù + BCÙ + CDÙ + DE
Ù + EF Ù = 360◦ , and the same
Ø + AF
for ∠B + ∠D + ∠F .
2 Let Z be the point at which XY is tangent to the circle. Then
4XAO and 4XZO are congruent, because AO = ZO,
XO = XO, and ∠XAO = ∠XZO = 90◦ . ∠ZOX = ∠XOA, and
both are equal to 12 ∠ZOA. Similarly, ∠ZOY = ∠YOB, and
both are equal to 21 ∠ZOB. Adding these together, we get
∠XOY = 12 ∠AOB, which does not depend on the position of
the tangent line.
Power of a point
P
X1 Y1
X1
P
Y2 X2 Y2
One way to think about this is that the value PX · PY you get by
choosing a line through P does not depend on the choice of line,
only on P itself. This value is called the “power of P”.