Sigma Percentile
JEE Main 2021 (27 August Shift 2)
LEVELJEE Main

Animated Solution for Mathematics - Circles: Two circles each of radius 5 units touch each other at the point . If the equation of their common tangent is , and and , are their centres, then is equal to .

Enter Numerical Value:

Visualized Solution

Visualizing the Setup

  • Radius of both circles
  • Point of contact
  • Common tangent:

Slope of the Common Tangent

  • Equation:
  • Slope of tangent

The Normal Line

  • Normal is perpendicular to the tangent.
  • Slope of normal

Trigonometric Ratios of the Normal

Parametric Form of Centers

  • Centers
  • Substitute

Setting up Center

Calculating Center

  • Center

Setting up Center

Calculating Center

  • Center

Final Expression Setup

  • Substitute values:
  • Expression:

Evaluating the Sums

The Final Result

  • Final Answer: 40

The Sigma Insight: Equation of Tangent and Normal

Solution Diagram

Analyzing the Setup

Welcome, fellow traveler of the JEE journey. Today, we stand before the elegance of two circles kissing at a single point.
Imagine the point , where two circles of radius meet. They share a common tangent, , which acts as a boundary at their point of contact.
To find the centers and , we must look beyond the circles themselves and focus on the line that connects them: the normal line.

The Normal Line

The Spine of the Problem
In geometry, the radius of a circle is always perpendicular to the tangent at the point of contact. This means the centers of our two circles must lie on a line that passes through and is perpendicular to the common tangent.
First, let us find the slope of the tangent. By rearranging into the slope-intercept form , we get:
The slope is . Since the normal is perpendicular to this tangent, its slope is the negative reciprocal:
This is the path our centers must follow.

The Parametric Voyage

Now, how do we find the coordinates of the centers? We know they are at a distance from the point along the normal line.
This is the perfect moment to use the parametric form of a line. If the slope of the line is , we can construct a right triangle with opposite side and adjacent side , making the hypotenuse .
Thus, and . The coordinates of the centers are given by .
Substituting our values, we get:

The Final Calculation

Let us calculate the first center, , by taking the positive sign: and . So, .
Now, for the second center, , we take the negative sign: and . So, .
We have found our parameters: . The problem asks for .
Calculating the sums, we find and . The product is:
Taking the absolute value, we arrive at our final, rock-solid answer: 40.

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