Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

By the end of this chapter, I should be able to:

- Use tangent and chord properties to find unknown angles
- Understand these tangent properties and be able to use them:
1. a tangent is perpendicular to the radius at the point of contact
2. tangents from an external point to a circle are equal in length
3. the angle between a chord and a tangent at the point of contact is equal to the angle in
the alternate segment (Understand the proof of the alternate segment property)

- Understand these chord properties, be able to use them and prove them:
1. a line drawn from the centre of a circle perpendicular to a chord bisects the chord and
its converse (The perpendicular bisector of a chord, passes through the centre)
2. equal chords are at an equal distance from the centre of the circle

- Find angles, lengths and areas using trigonometry

- use trigonometry to find unknown angles, lengths and areas.

A. Tangents

Line LM is a tangent to the circle with centre O.

A tangent to a circle is a straight line outside the
circle that touches the circle at a single point.

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

B. Using tangent properties to find unknown angles:

Property 1: The angle between a radius and a

tangent at the point of contact is a
___________________________. In other
words, a tangent is always
____________________________ to a radius.

Ex. 1: Find the unknown angles in the following diagrams, giving reasons for your
answers.

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Property 2: Tangents drawn from an exterior point outside a circle to the same circle,
are equal in _________________.

Ex. 2: Draw the tangents from an external point P to a circle with centre O and radius 2.8
cm such that OP is 10 cm long. Let the tangents meet the circle at Q and S respectively.

a) Measure the tangents and show that they are equal.

b) Construct the circumcircle PQOS.

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Ex. 3: Find the unknown angles in the following circles. Give reasons for your answers.

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Proof of Property 2: Tangents from an external point are equal.

Property 3: The Alternate Segment Theorem

The angle formed between a tangent and a chord at the point of contact is equal to any
angle subtended by the same chord in the alternate segment.

The chord PR divides the circle into two

segments:

________________________________________________________

While α1 lies partially in the _______________

segment, β1 lies in the _______________ segment.
Conversely, α2 lies partially in the ______________
segment while β2 lies in the ______________ segment.

α1 = β1
α2 = β2

Are there any other relationships between the marked angles?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Ex. 4: Find the unknown angles in the following diagrams. Give reasons for your
answers.

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Proof of Property 3: The angle between the chord and the tangent is equal to the
angle the chord makes in the alternate segment.

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

SEGMENT

SECTOR
Revision
ARC

of ALL

Theorems

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

O is the centre of the circle.

52°
Find the value of x and y. Give reasons

for your answers. Not drawn

O
x
accurately

1. PQ and PR are tangents to the circle centre O.

 QPR is 65.

Not drawn
O z 65° P
accurately

Calculate the size of angle QOR (marked z on the diagram).

2. Write down the value of x and y. Give reasons for your answers.

40º Not drawn accurately

xº

yº

3. A and C are points on the circumference of a circle centre B.

AD and CD are tangents.
A Not drawn accurately
Angle ADB = 40°.

Explain why angle ABC is 100°.

40º
B D

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Proof of Theorem 1: The line from the centre of a circle to the midpoint of a
chord is the perpendicular to the chord.

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Ex. 4: Solve the following problem:

Chord AB is 8cm long. M is the midpoint of AB.
a) How long is AM?

b) How many degrees does angle OMA have?

c) What type of triangle is OMA?

d) OM is 3cm long. How long is the radius of this circle?

Ex. 5: A circle has a radius of 5 cm. The chord EF is 7 cm.

How far is the midpoint of the chord from the centre of the
circle?

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Proof of Converse of Theorem 1: If a line segment from the centre intersects a

chord perpendicularly, then the two segments meet at the midpoint of the
chord.

Ex. 6:

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Proof of Theorem 3: Equal chords are equidistant from the centre.

Proof of converse of Theorem 3: Chords that are equidistant from centre are
equal.

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

D. Finding angles, lengths and areas using trigonometry:

Ex. 7: Figure 1 shows a cylindrical PVC pipe being pulled gently by a loose string. Figure
2 illustrates a detailed top view of the same scenario, with O being the centre of the pipe,
while Q and S are the first contact points of the string with the pipe. R is just another
contact point between Q and S.

If the pipe has a radius of 7 cm and QOS = 138o, work out the length of the string PQRS.

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Form 4 Paper A – Circles and Tangents

Ex. 8:
In the following diagram, O is the centre of a circle of radius OP = 3.9 cm, PT = 8 cm. Find:
a) QT
b) POT
c) PRQ
d) The area of sector POQ
e) The shaded area

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