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If equations of two circles in a plane are given as

$$ f(x,y)=0,\, g(x,y)=0,\, $$

  1. Find equations of direct tangents in terms of $f,g$

and

  1. Find equations of transverse tangents in terms of $f,g$

We could calculate using coincident roots/point etc. of a transverse line but how can it be found using pole/polar properties ? or other methods?

Jaideep Khare
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Narasimham
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1 Answers1

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If $f(x,y)=0$ is the equation of a circle with center $(h,k)$ and radius $r,$ then the most general form of $f$ is $$f(x,y) = a((x-h)^2 + (y-k)^2 - r^2)$$ where $a\neq0.$ Consider the following values of $f$: \begin{align} f(0,0) &= a(h^2 + k^2 + r^2), \\ f(1,0) &= a(h^2 - 2h + 1 + k^2 + r^2), \\ f(-1,0) &= a(h^2 + 2h + 1 + k^2 + r^2). \end{align} We can combine these as follows: $$ f(1,0) + f(-1,0) - 2f(0,0) = 2a, $$ from which we find $a$ in terms of $f,$ namely, $a = \tfrac12(f(1,0) + f(-1,0)) - f(0,0).$ We also have $$ f(-1,0) - f(1,0) = 4ah, $$ and since we can already express $a$ in terms of $f,$ this lets us express $h$ in terms of $f.$ We can also plug the expression for $a$ into the equation $f(0,0) - f(0,1) = a(2k - 1)$ in order to find $k$ in terms of $f,$ and we can then plug these expressions for $a,$ $h,$ and $k$ into the equation $f(0,0) = a(h^2 + k^2 + r^2)$ to find $r$ in terms of $f.$

Since this establishes that $a,$ $h,$ $k,$ and $r$ can all be expressed in terms of $f,$ from now on let's just see what we can express in terms of $a,$ $h,$ $k,$ and $r,$ with the knowledge that whatever we can express in those terms can be expressed in terms of $f$ as well.

Likewise, if $g(x,y)=0$ is the equation of a circle with center $(H,K)$ and radius $R,$ then the most general form of $g$ is $$g(x,y) = A((x-H)^2 + (y-K)^2 - R^2),$$ where $A,$ $H,$ $K,$ and $R$ can all be expressed in terms of $g.$

Let $\ell$ be the line satisfying the equation $$ L(x,y) = nx + \left(\sqrt{1-n^2}\right)y - m = 0 $$ where $m$ and $n$ are real constants, $-1 \leq n \leq 1.$ The vector $\left\langle n, \sqrt{1-n^2}\right\rangle$ is a unit normal vector of $\ell.$ (Another way to express this is that $n=\cos\theta$ and $\sqrt{1-n^2} = \sin\theta,$ where $\theta$ is the angle of the vector.)

Given any line in the plane, we can select values of $m$ and $n$ such that $\ell$ is the given line. The distance from a point $(x,y)$ to the line $\ell$ is $$ d((x,y),\ell) = \left\lvert nx + \left(\sqrt{1-n^2}\right)y - m\right\rvert. $$ In order to find common tangents to the two circles whose equations are $f(x,y)=0$ and $g(x,y)=0,$ therefore, we need to find $m$ and $n$ such that the distance from $(h,k)$ to $\ell$ is $r$ and the distance from $(H,K)$ to $\ell$ is $R,$ that is, \begin{align} nh + \left(\sqrt{1-n^2}\right)k - m &= \pm r, \\ nH + \left(\sqrt{1-n^2}\right)K - m &= \pm R. \end{align} If we select the signs of $\pm r$ and $\pm R$ in these two equations, and solve for $m$ and $n,$ we derive the equation of a line tangent to the two circles. There are four possible choices of signs, leading to four tangent lines whose equations we can derive: for $+r,+R$ or $-r,-R$ we get a direct tangent, but for $+r,-R$ or $-r,+R$ we get a transverse tangent.

David K
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  • It does not simplify to a form directly involving $f,g$ right? – Narasimham May 05 '17 at 19:23
  • Every variable mentioned in this answer, and every formula that can be written with those variables, can be "simplified" to a form directly involving $f$ and/or $g.$ I showed one such form explicitly for $a,$ but not for the other variables because the "simplified" forms quickly become annoying to write out in full. Actually writing out the forms (if that's really necessary) is left as an exercise for the reader. – David K May 05 '17 at 21:41