Preston McConkey

Tamarah Alsaray

(google docs)

Introduction

We are given two lines that are tangent to a circle at two separate points. y = 34 x + 5 is

tangent to the circle at (0,5). The line 3x + 4y = 38 is tangent to the same circle at (6,5). The

goal is to find the equation of the circle using those two given line equations and find the

perpendicular lines to each given line which pass through the center of the circle at some point.

Using that center we will be able to find the radius and complete the equation of the circle from

there.

Steps

1. First step is to ensure that each of the given equations is in y = mx + b form. The equation

y = 34 x + 5 is already in the correct form so it does not need to be edited at all. However,

the given equation 3x + 4y = 38 is not in the correct form so, to fix that, we need to solve

the equation for y.

(a) Subtract 3x from both sides: 3x + 4y = 38 → 4y =− 3x + 38

4
(b) Divide by four on each side: 4
y =− 34 x + 38
4
→ y =− 34 x + 9.5

2. Next step would be to graph the lines either by hand or on desmos to see where they land.

Be sure to also add the points (0,5) and (6,5) for reference. The lines cross each other and

the two points fall on the lines.

3. Now we need to find the equation of the lines that are perpendicular to each of the given

equations to be able to find the center of the circle. This works because those

perpendicular lines will pass through the center of the circle.

4. We do this by using the equation y = 34 x + 5 and the point (0,5) that is tangent to the

circle. To be able to find the perpendicular line, we need the slope that is negative
3
reciprocal of 4
, which is m =− 43 . Using the point that is tangent to the circle we plug in

those respective x and y coordinates into the equation y − y 1 = m(x − x 1 ) . Plug in those

values and solve for y: y − 5 =− 34 (x − 0) . The resulting equation is y =− 34 x + 5 . The

exact same process is applied to the other line equation. So, we plug in the x, y

coordinates (6,5) into y − y 1 = m(x − x 1 ) and once again solve for y and use the slope

4
of the perpendicular line which is m = 3
. Plug it all in: y − 5 = 43 (x − 6) . The result is:

y= 43 x − 3 .

5. Now we can find the x coordinate of the center of the circle. We do this by setting those

two perpendicular line equations equal to each other. This is necessary because setting

them equal and solving for x tells us where those two lines intersect. And solve for x by

combining like terms.

(a) − 43 x + 5 = 43 x − 3

(b) − 83 x =− 8

3
(c) x =− 8 · −8
Negative eight cancels out.

(d) x=3
 Now that we have the x coordinate of the center of the circle now we just plug in 3 for

every x into either one of the equations and solve for y to get the y coordinate.

(a) − 43 (3) + 5 = y

(b) The answer is 1. So, y = 1

8. Now we have the coordinates of the center of the circle: (3,1). To complete the equation of the

circle we also need the radius. To solve for the radius we use the distance formula

d= √(x 2 − x 1 )2 + (y 2 − y 1 )2 and choose any one of the two tangent points and the center of

the circle for the values in the equation.

(a) d = √(3 − 0) 2
+ (1 − 5) 2

(b) d = √(3) 2
+ (− 4) 2

(c) d = √25

(d) d = 5

The answer is d = 5 .

So, the radius is 5. Now that we have the radius and the center of the circle we can complete the

equation of the circle. So, the standard form of the equation of the circle and, the answer to the

original problem is (x − 3)2 + (y − 1)2 = 25 .

 This graph shows the original lines in red and blue. The perpendicular lines that we found

are black and purple. As seen, the perpendicular lines are passing right through the center of the

circle at (3,1).
 Reflection

The beginning of the process was not too difficult. We found it easy to get the two given

equations into the proper y = mx + b form. All the steps after that was where we struggled and

had to think very critically through it. The part we struggled with the most was finding the

perpendicular lines to the given equations, as well as trying to think through how to get there in

the first place. The way that we fixed this problem is that we got some help from the tutors. Our

tutor was friendly and worked through the problem without explaining everything so that we

were forced to figure it out on our own. This assignment taught us how to find the equation of a

circle from just the given equations and the two tangent points. A real world example of the

equation of the circle is “The wheel. Place the axle in the center of a circle, and by the property

that all points on the perimeter are equidistant from the center, you get a smooth ride that

requires the least propulsive energy, too.” says Craig Aaron Tovey from Quora.com.

Works cited

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-real-life-applications-of-circles