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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from ANJANA: AB is a diameter of a circle. |
Anjana,
The shortest chord through C is perpendicular to the diameter AB. (To prove this claim one needs to know that for any chord PQ through C, the product PC*CQ is constant. One then wants the smallest sum x+y over all x's and y's for which x*y is constant.) Use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length PC.
Chris
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