CAT Line and Circle - (Part 1) - Practice Questions & MCQ

Let us consider a circle and a line AB. There can be three possibilities given

Case 1

The line AB and the circle have no common point. In this case, AB is called a non-intersecting line with respect to the circle.

Case 2

In the  above figure there are two common points C and D that the line AB and the circle have. In this case, we call the line AB a secant of the circle.

Case 3

In the  above figure there is only one point C which is common to the line AB and the circle. In this case, the line is called a tangent to the circle.

The point C is called the  point of contact of line AB with the circle. This point is common to the tangent and the circle. 

Basically  a tangent to a circle is a line that intersects the circle at only one point.

The word ‘tangent’ comes from the Latin word ‘tangere’, which means to touch and was introduced by the Danish mathematician Thomas Fineke in 1583.

You must have seen the train several times. Have you ever noticed the position of these railway tracks and the  wheels of the train? If yes, you might have seen that the railway track is a straight path and the wheels of the train  move on these tracks. The wheels are always in contact with the track. Hence, we say that the track is tangent to the  wheels of the train.