Higher Mathematics - Circle

Solutions (Leah)
(2)

Firstly, we expand our brackets and collect like terms.

(x − 2)2 + (y − 12 ) = 25
x2 − 4x + 4 + y2 − 2y + 1 = 25
x2 + y2 − 4x − 2y − 20 = 0

Since we are told y = 3x, we can substitute that into the above equation and solve
for x.

x2 + y2 − 4x − 2y − 20 = 0
x2 + (3x)2 − 4x − 2(3x) − 20 = 0
x2 + 9x2 − 4x − 6x − 20 = 0
10x2 − 10x − 20 = 0
x2 − x − 2 = 0
⟹ (x + 1)(x − 2) = 0

So, we see that x = −1 and x = 2. To find the points of intersections, we also

need to find the y components. We can substitute our values for x into the equation
y = 3x.

y = 3(−1) = −3
y = 3(2) = 6

Thus, our points of intersection are (−1, 3) and (2, 6)

(3)

To find the equation of any circle, we need a center and the radius. The center is
found by calculating the midpoint from (−7, 3) and (1, 5).

Higher Mathematics - Circle Solutions (Leah) 1

 Looking at the x components exclusively, it ranges from −7 to 1, which takes 8
steps total, so half that is 4. So, we can either add 4 to −7 or subtract 4 from 1.
Either way, we get that the midpoint in the x component is −3.

We do the same for the y, which ranges from 3 to 5, so, the midpoint will be 4. This
gives a midpoint of coordinates (−3, 4), which is the center.

To find the radius, we calculate the distance between AB and half it. We construct a
right angled triangle, which looks like,

Then the red line will have length 82 + 22 = 68 . This means the radius will be
half this, namely 68 /2.
So, the equation of the circle will be,

(x + 3)2 + (y − 4)2 = ( )
68
2
68
(x + 3)2 + (y − 4)2 =
4
2 2
(x + 3) + (y − 4) = 17

(4)

This first part is worth one mark. If we are told the center is (t, 0), and radius 2, it
follows that the equation of the circle is just,

(x − t)2 + (y − 0)2 = 22

(b)

Higher Mathematics - Circle Solutions (Leah) 2

 We first expand out our circle equation and collect like terms.

(x − t)2 + y2 = 4
x2 − 2xt + t2 + y2 − 4 = 0

We are told an equation of a straight line y = 2x, which intersects the circle once
(tangent), so we substitute in the exact same fashion as Q1.

x2 − 2xt + t2 + (2x)2 − 4 = 0
x2 − 2xt + t2 + 4x2 − 4 = 0
5x2 − 2xt + t2 − 4 = 0

We are told this line is also a tangent, so, the b2 − 4ac = 0. Applying the
discriminant to the quadratic above yields,

(−2t)2 − 4(5)(t2 − 4) = 0
4t2 − 20(t2 − 4) = 0
4t2 − 20t2 + 80 = 0
80 = 16t2
5 = t2
⟹ t=± 5

However, our answer is t = + 5 as we are told that t > 0

Higher Mathematics - Circle Solutions (Leah) 3