AMC 10 Preparation 17.

Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

BASIC KNOWLEDGE

The x-y Coordinate (Rectangular Coordinate, Cartesian Coordinate) System

A horizontal number line and a vertical number line perpendicularly intersect at

the origin.

The Coordinates:

The two numbers in an ordered pair are called the

coordinates of the corresponding point.

Note that the x-coordinate

y-coordinate

1. Equations of Lines and Circles

1.1. Different forms of equation of a line

Standard form:

Ax By C 0 ( A2 B2 0) (17.1)

Point-Slope Form

y y1 m( x x1 ) (17.2)
m is the slope of the line and the point (x1, y1) is on
the line.

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Slope-Intercept Form

y mx b (17.3)
where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept .

Two-Intercept Form:

x y
1 (17.4)
a b
a is the x-intercept and b is the y-intercept.

Two-point Form:

If two points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) are known the equation of the line can be written
y y1 y2 y1
as: (17. 5)
x x1 x2 x1

(2). Slopes of parallel and perpendicular lines

If line y1 m1x1 b1 and line y2 m2 x2 b2 are parallel, then m1 m2 .

If m1 m2 , then line y1 m1 x1 b1 and line y2 m2 x2 b2 are parallel.
If line y1 m1x1 b1 and line y2 m2 x2 b2 are perpendicular, then m1 m2 1.
If m1 m2 1 , then line y1 m1x1 b1 and line y2 m2 x2 b2 are perpendicular.

1.2. Equations of circles

Standard form x2 y2 r2 (17.6)

center: (0, 0), radius r (r > 0).

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Standard form (x a)2 (y b)2 r2 (17.7)

Center: (a, b), radius r (r > 0)

General form: x2 + y2 + Dx + Ey + F 0 (17.8)

D 2 E 2 D 2
E
2
4F
When completing the square: ( x ) (y ) (17.9)
2 2 4

2. Distance Formulas

(1) Formulas to calculate the distance between two points

Given right triangle ABC, the Pythagorean Theorem yields

d ( x2 x1 ) 2 ( y2 y1 ) 2 (17.10)

(1.1) is called the distance formula and is used to

calculate the distance between two points P1 ( x1 , y1 )
and P2 ( x2 , y2 ) .

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

(2) Formula to calculate the distance from a point to a line

Solving problems involving finding the distance from a point (x1 , y1) to a line ax
+ by + c = 0 might seem simple at first glance, but is very time consuming,
ax1 by1 c
unless you know the following formula: d (17.11)
a2 b2

3. Midpoint Formulas

(1) Midpoint formula

The coordinates ( xm , ym ) of the midpoint of the line segment with endpoints

x1 x2 y1 y2
( x1 , y1 ) and ( x2 , y2 ) are xm , and ym (17.12)
2 2

(2) Vertices formula of a parallelogram:

ABCD is a parallelogram. Given three vertices A (xA, yA), B (xB, yB), and C (xC,
yC), find the coordinates of D.
xD xA xC xB
yD yA yC yB (17.13)

Proof:
Draw two diagonals to meet at E.
E is the midpoint of AC. So we have:
x A xC
xE (1)
2
E is also the midpoint of BD. So we have:
xB xD
xE (2)
2
x x xB xD
Then we have A C = xE
2 2
xA xC xB xD xD xA xC xB .

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Similarly we can prove yD yA yC yB .

(3). Generalized Points Formula

P is a point on AB between points A and B.

AP
If , then:
PB
x1 x2 y1 y2
x , and y (17.14)
1 1

Proof:
Draw DP // BC, PE // AC. We get two similar
triangles: ADP and PEB.
DP AP x x1
So we have
CB PB x2 x
x x1 ( x2 x) x x1 x2 x
x1 x2
x(1 ) x1 x2 x .
1
y1 y2
Similarly we can prove y .
1

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

EXAMPLES

(1). Lines and Slopes

Example 1. A point (x, y) is randomly picked from inside the rectangle with
vertices (0, 0), (8, 0), (8, 2), and (0, 2). What is the probability that x > y?
(A) 7/8 (B) 1/4 (C) 3/8 (D) 1/2 (E) 5/8

Example 2. A line with slope 3 intersects a line with slope 5 at the point (10, 15).
Find the distance between the y-intercepts of these two lines.
(A) 2 (B) 5 (C) 7 (D) 12 (E) 20

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 3. The lines x = (1/ 4)y + a and y = (1/4)x + b intersect at the point (1,
2). Find b a.
(A) 0 (B) 3/4 (C) 7/4 (D) 2 (E) 5/4

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 4. (AMC 10A) In rectangle ABCD, we have AB = 8, BC = 9, H is on BC

with BH = 6, E is on AD with DE = 4, line EC
intersects line AH at G, and F is on line AD with GF ⊥
AF. What is the length GF ?
(A) 16 (B) 20 (C) 24 (D) 28 (E) 30

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 5. Point P(3, 2) is on a line l which is parallel to the line x 3y = 7. The

equation of the line l can be written as ax + by = c. a and b are relatively prime.
What is 3a + b c ?
(A) 3 (B) 5 (C) 6 (D) 9 (E) 12

Example 6. Write an equation of the line that is tangent to the circle x2 + y2 =

25 at ( 3, 4).
(A) 3x + 4y = 25 (B) 3x 4y = 25 (C) 3x + 4y = 25
(D) 3x 4y = 25 (E) none of these

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 7. Points A = (4, 10), B = (2, 2), C = (6, 4), and D = (a, b) lie in the first
quadrant and are the vertices of quadrilateral ABCD. The quadrilateral formed by
joining the midpoints of AB , BC , CD , and DA is a square. Find the sum of the
coordinates of point D.
(A) 16 (B) 9 (C) 12 (D) 10 (E) 7

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

(2). Midpoint Formula and Generalized Formula

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 9. Points P and R are located at (1, 5) and (5, 11) respectively. Point M
is the midpoint of segment PR. Segment PR is reflected over the x-axis. Find the
sum of the coordinates of the image of point M (the midpoint of the reflected
segment).
(A) 5 (B) 5 (C) 3 (D) 8 (E) 11

Example 10. The three vertices of triangle ABC are at A(5, 8), B(3, 2) and C(6,
1). The point D with coordinates (m, n) is chosen inside the triangle such that the
three small triangles ABD, ACD and BCD all have equal areas. Find the value of
10m + n.
(A) 14 (B) 49 (C) 140/3 (D) 7 (E) 7/3

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 11. AB with endpoints A( 2, 3) and B(5, 5) is reflected over the x-axis.
Then, its image is reflected over the y-axis. What is the product of the coordinates
of the midpoint of the final image?
(A) 6 (B) 2 (C) 4 (D) 8 (E) 10

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

(3) Distance Formula

Example 12. (AMC 10B) A triangle with sides of 5, 12, and 13 has both an
inscribed and a circumscribed circle. What is the distance between the centers of
those circles?
65
(A) 3 5 /2 (B) 7/2 (C) 15 (D) (E) 9/2
2

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 13. In rectangle ABCD, we have A = (20, 22), B = (2020, 178), and D
= (22, y), for some integer y. What is the area of rectangle ABCD ?
(A) 20,200 (B) 10,100 (C) 44,000 (D) 22,000 (E) 40,400

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 14. For real x with f ( x) x2 2x 2 x2 4 x 8 , what is the

smallest possible value of f(x)?
(A) 10 (B) 15 (C) 2 5 D. 5 2 (E) 4 3

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

(4) Distance From A Point To A Line Formula

Example 15. Find the distance between the point (2, 3) and the line 3x 4y
12 = 0.
(A) 5/2 (B) 6/5 (C) 6/7 (D) 8/5 (E) 7/5

Example 16. What is the closest that the line 4x + 5y = 20 comes to the origin?

20 41 10 41 10 41 40 41 12 41
(A) (B) (C) D. (E)
41 21 41 41 41

Example 17. Find the distance between the parallel lines 2x 3y = 12 and 2x 3y
= 25.
13
(A) (B) 26 (C) 13 D. 2 13 (E) 2 26
13

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 18. (2003 Duke Math Meet) What is the closest that the line
4 1
y x comes to a lattice point?
7 5

5 1
Example 19. What is the closest that the line y x comes to a lattice point?
7 5
74 35 74 2 74 74
(A) (B) . (C) . D. . (E) .
175 35 185 185 74

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 20. Find the slope of the line l that is tangent to the circle x2 + y2 = 1 at
( 2, 0).
1 3
(A) 1 (B) (C) (D) 3 (E) 5
2 3

y
Example 21. (AMC) Find the largest value of for pairs of real numbers (x, y)
x
which satisfy (x 3)2 + (y 3)2 = 6.
(A) 3 2 2 (B) 2 3 (C) 3 3 (D) 6 (E) 6 2 3

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 22. P(x, y) is a point on a circle of radius of 1. If the center of the circle
y 2
is ( 2, 0), what is the smallest value of ?
x 1
3 3 3 3 2 3 3 5 3 3
(A) (B) (C) D. (E)
4 4 4 4 2

Example 23. What is the minimum value of x2 y 2 if 8x + 15y = 120?

(A) (B) (C) (D) 8 (E) 7

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AMC 10 Preparation 17. Coordinate Geometry Lines and Circles

Example 24. The equation of the line passing through the point P(2, 3) and
tangent to the circle C: x2 + y2 2x 2y + 1 = 0 can be written as ax + by + c = 0
Find the sum of all possible values of a.
(A) 4 (B) 3 (C) 0 (D) 2 (E) 4

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