The radius of a circle is perpendicular to the tangent line through its endpoint on the circle’s circumference. Conversely, the perpendicular to a radius through the same endpoint is a tangent line. The resulting geometrical figure of circle and tangent line has a reflection symmetry about the axis of the radius.

A line is tangent to a circle if it touches it at one and only one point. If a line is tangent to a circle, then it is perpendicular to the radius drawn to the point of tangency.

The tangent theorem states that a line is a tangent to a circle if and only if the line is perpendicular to the radius drawn to the point of tangency.

A tangent to a circle at point P with coordinates is a straight line that touches the circle at P. The tangent is perpendicular to the radius which joins the centre of the circle to the point P. As the tangent is a straight line, the equation of the tangent will be of the form y = m x + c .

Theorem 9-13: The measure of an angle formed by two secants, two tangents, or a secant and a tangent drawn from a point outside the circle is equal to half the difference of the measures of the intercepted arcs.

The formula for the equation of a circle is (x – h)2+ (y – k)2 = r2, where (h, k) represents the coordinates of the center of the circle, and r represents the radius of the circle. If a circle is tangent to the x-axis at (3,0), this means it touches the x-axis at that point.

A circle can have infinite tangents. Such lines are called tangent lines or simply as tangents to the circle from a given point. It may be noted that from a particular point outside a circle only two tangents can be drawn.

A line is called a secant line if it meets a given circle twice. A circle can be tangent to another circle and be either completely inside that circle, or completely outside of it.

A tangent to a circle is a straight line which touches the circle at only one point. The tangent to a circle is perpendicular to the radius at the point of tangency.

2 parallel tangents

While in a circle, a secant will touch the circle in exactly two points and a chord is the line segment defined by these two points, that is the interval on a secant whose endpoints are these two points. So from the above definition, there can be infinite secants which can be drawn to the circle.

Answer. distance between two parallel tangents of a circle of radius 7cm is double the radius.

If two tangents are parallel to each other in a circle, then the common length which is perpendicular to both the tangents is the diameter of the circle. So, the distance is two times the radius(5 cm) which is 10 cm. I hope you will understand.

Hence distance between parallel tangents is 20cm.

Answer: Hence, the distance two parallel tangents of a circle of the radius 4 cm is 8cm.

∴ Distance between the parallel tangents l and m is 9cm. Was this answer helpful?

Two parallel tangents to a circle lie at the ends of a diameter. Therefore, if the radius of the circle is 3.5 cm, the distance between the 2 parallel tangents is 7 cm.

The shortest distance between two parallel lines is the length of the perpendicular segment between them. It doesn’t matter which perpendicular line you choose, as long as the two points are on the lines.

Since tangents are parallel, they have equal distance between them. radius=6cm. So, diameter=12cm. Thus, distance is 12cm b/w the tangents.