Use perpendicular distance formula with the Line given and the centre of the circle, if it is larger than the radius of the circle then it will intersect no times, if it equal to the radius of circle it will be a tangent and intersect once, if it is less than the radius then it will intersect twice
You solve simultaneously for the eqns of the straight line y = mx and of the circle. You get a quadratic eqn in x as follows:
Since the line touches the circle, this eqn has a repeated root (if line cuts thru the circle, you have 2 different roots) and therefore the discriminant of this quadratic eqn = "b2 - 4ac" = 0;
i.e. (-2m-6)^2 - 4 x (1+m^2) x 6 = 0
i.e.4(m^2 +6m + 9) - 4 x 6 x (1++m^2) = 0; i.e 5m^2 - 6m -3 = 0