2016ers Chit-Chat Thread (6 Viewers)

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InteGrand

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For that ellipse question, the y-value of the circle's centre is clearly 0 by symmetry (specifically it must be equidistant from the two given points on the ellipse, which means it lies on the perpendicular bisector to the line segment joining those two points, which is the x-axis).

A way to find the x-value (in fact, the entire coordinates) of the centre is as leehuan was saying, the centre will be the point of intersection of the normals at those points on the ellipse, so we could find equations of both normals and solve simultaneously. However, since we already argued above that y = 0 at the circle centre, we only need to actually find one normal equation (and don't need to do simultaneous solving). Then just find the x-intercept of it (i.e. sub. y = 0 and solve for x). This gives us the x-value of the coordinates of the circle's centre, with the y-value being 0.
 
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leehuan

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Even when tired I can do maths to a valid albeit poor extent. :')
 

Nailgun

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For that ellipse question, the y-value of the circle's centre is clearly 0 by symmetry (specifically it must be equidistant from the two given points on the ellipse, which means it lies on the perpendicular bisector to the line segment joining those two points, which is the x-axis).

A way to find the x-value (in fact, the entire coordinates) of the centre is as leehuan was saying, the centre will be the point of intersection of the normals at those points on the ellipse, so we could find equations of both normals and solve simultaneously. However, since we already argued above that y = 0 at the circle centre, we only need to actually find one normal equation (and don't need to do simultaneous solving). Then just find the x-intercept of it (i.e. sub. y = 0 and solve for x). This gives us the x-value of the coordinates of the circle's centre, with the y-value being 0.
Hey this is kind of what I tried doing - but it didn't work lol
 

InteGrand

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wait wait wait
my method was legit
i just made a mistake
full srs

q is really easy
What was your method? Finding both normals and solving them simultaneously? (By the way, I realised now that getting the equation of one of the normals was an earlier part of the question.)
 
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leehuan

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HAHAHAHA.

I knew I was right to put arithmetic on the top of my summation joke
 

leehuan

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What was your method? Finding both tangents and solving them simultaneously? (By the way, I realised now that getting the equation of one of the tangents was an earlier part of the question.)
I thought the question only wanted the normal
 

DatAtarLyfe

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Couldnt you have simultaneous the normals at both points?
Edit: k cool
 

Nailgun

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What was your method? Finding both tangents and solving them simultaneously? (By the way, I realised now that getting the equation of one of the tangents was an earlier part of the question.)
idk how you found y=0 by symmetry

if P and Q are on the circle, then the distance between P and the center (h,k) will be radius

so r^2 = (5-h)^2+(7.5-k)^2

equation of circle is (x-h)^2-(y-k)^2 = (5-h)^2+(7.5-k)^2
sub x = 5 y = -7.5

k = 0

therefore y coordinate is 0

then if circle is tangent to ellipse
the equation of tangent at x=5 will be the same for both ellipse and circle
if the tangents are the same the normals are the same
the normal of a tangent of a circle always passes through centre ( i think this is a circle geo thing)
so sub y=0 into normal they give you
 
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DatAtarLyfe

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How nailgun did it originally was my original thought but i figured there had to be a reason they made me find the normal in part ii
You can but the deduction InteGrand presented allows you to avoid finding the equation of the second normal.
Q is simply a reflection of P about the x-axis. So i couldve just modified the normal in part ii
 

InteGrand

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idk how you found y=0 by symmetry

if P and Q are on the circle, then the distance between P and the center (h,k) will be radius

so r^2 = (5-h)+(7.5-k)^2

equation of circle is (x-h)^2-(y-k)^2 = (5-h)+(7.5-k)^2
sub x = 5 y = -7.5

k = 0

therefore y coordinate is 0

then if circle is tangent to ellipse
the equation of tangent at x=5 will be the same
so turn the normal eq they give you into a tangent
sub y=0
profit




 
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Nailgun

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erm i think this would make more sense to me if I the only thing I knew about ellipses was not that they were ovals ahahaha

edit: jks i understand the logic actually
idk how to sketch the ellipse though
 

InteGrand

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erm i think this would make more sense to me if I the only thing I knew about ellipses was not that they were ovals ahahaha

edit: jks i understand the logic actually
idk how to sketch the ellipse though
Yeah, all the reflection thing is really saying is that if we flip the entire diagram of the ellipse about the horizontal axis, the picture remains the same because the ellipse is symmetric about the x-axis. Since the two points of interest are also reflections of each other about the x-axis, when we flip everything, the two points together are the same still, so the circle in the flipped case must be the same one as in the non-flipped case; and this'll happen precisely if the circle is centred on the x-axis (k = 0).

The second argument using the perpendicular bisector doesn't use anything about ellipses, it just uses the fact that the locus of points equidistant from two points in the plane is their perpendicular bisector, which is common knowledge for HSC 4U Complex Numbers locus questions.

An ellipse is basically a circle stretched/compressed in two perpendicular directions.
 

Nailgun

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Yeah, all the reflection thing is really saying is that if we flip the entire diagram of the ellipse about the horizontal axis, the picture remains the same because the ellipse is symmetric about the x-axis. Since the two points of interest are also reflections of each other about the x-axis, when we flip everything, the two points together are the same still, so the circle in the flipped case must be the same one as in the non-flipped case; and this'll happen precisely if the circle is centred on the x-axis (k = 0).

The second argument using the perpendicular bisector doesn't use anything about ellipses, it just uses the fact that the locus of points equidistant from two points in the plane is their perpendicular bisector, which is common knowledge for HSC 4U Complex Numbers locus questions.

An ellipse is basically a circle stretched/compressed in two perpendicular directions.
Ah right right

then you have h=h and k=-k

or since their reflections of each other, they are the same distance from the x-axis, i.e their midpoint is 0
 
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