Given a circle with equation , find the distance the two intersection points between a line that passes through the origin with angle and the circle in terms of .
Hence calculate the distance if .
Note: A previous version of this problem had which made the correct answer 1. Those who previously answered 1 have been given credit for a right answer.
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
First, I have created an image to represent all the information given in the question. Let point X lie on the x-axis where x > 0.
Now,
The interval AB has a distance of 1 as the radius of the circle is 1.
The interval AC has a distance of 1 as the radius of the circle is 1.
Let the interval BC have a length of h.
Let the angle θ be ∠ B C X
Now using that information,
∠ A C B is equal to 90 - θ
As AC = AB, triangle ABC is an isosceles triangle so ∠ A C B = ∠ A B C
Now the sum of a triangle equals 180,
So ∠ A C B + ∠ A B C + ∠ C A B = 180,
Simplifying this we get ∠ C A B = 2 θ
Now using cosine rule,
h 2 = 1 2 + 1 2 − 2 ∗ 1 ∗ 1 ∗ cos 2 θ
So h 2 = 2 − 2 cos 2 θ
Now as cos 2 θ = 1 − 2 ( sin θ ) 2
Then h 2 = 2 − 2 + 2 ∗ 2 ( sin θ ) 2
Thus h = 2 sin θ
Letting θ = 60,
We get that h = 1.73