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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from Michele, a parent: A circle of radius 2 is externally tangent to a circle of radius 8, |
Hi Michele,
Are you looking for the length of the line segment AB?
Since the line AB is tangent to both circles angles DAB and ABC are right angles. From C the centre of the smaller circle construct a line parallel to AB and meeting DA at P. Triangle DPC is thus a right triangle. |DC| = 2 + 8 = 10, |DP| = 8 - 2 = 6. What is the length of PC?
Penny
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