If the equation of the normal to the curve that forms the shortest chord is . Find .
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.
H i n t s :
Equation of normal at ( t , t 2 ) is
y + 2 t x = t 2 + 2 1
Point of intersection of this normal and parabola y = x 2 is
x 2 + 2 t x = t 2 + 2 1 .
One root of this equation is we know x = t and sum of root is − 2 t 1 So other root is x = − t − 2 t 1 So here y- coordinate is t 2 + 4 t 2 1 + 1 .
So distance between ( t , t 2 ) and ( − t − 2 t 1 , t 2 + 4 t 2 1 + 1 ) is to be shortest.
Distance is ( 1 + 4 t 2 ) ( 1 + 4 t 2 1 ) 2
Differentiating inner stuff we can easily get t = ± ( 2 1 ) .
So there are two equations
y = ± ( 2 1 ) x + 1 .
In each case m 2 + c 2 = 1 . 5