The method in Euclidean Geometry to construct two tangents to a circle from a point outside the circle (see the left-hand part of Figure 19) cannot be applied to the case under the upper half-plane model (see the right-hand part of Figure 19).

Figure 19

We will start this construction first and explain it later.

Given:

A u-circle c and a point A outside c in the upper half-plane.

To Construct:

The u-lines passing through P and tangent to c.

Constructions:

Figure 20

    1.          Let point O be Euclidean center of c; and let A' be the reflection of A with respect to the x-axis.

    2.           Let S and S' be the intersections of c and the circle defined by A, A' and O.

    3.           Suppose that straight-lines  and  intersect at P, construct the circle with diameter  which intersects the given u-circle c at T and T'.

    4.           Then T and T' are tangent points; and u-lines AT and AT' are required tangents.

The target of this construction above is to find out the circle(s) satisfying the following three conditions: first, which passes through the point A, second, whose (Euclidean) center lies on the x-axis, and third, which is tangent to the given u-circle c.

According to the constructions above (see Figure 20), in the circle c we have ; and in the circle c1 we have ; so we have . Hence  is tangent to the circle defined by A, A' and T, which is just the required circle.

We can see that: first, it passes through A; second, it is tangent to the given u-circle c since they have the common tangent ; finally, its (Euclidean) center lies on the x-axis since the x-axis is the perpendicular bisector of its chord .


Download This Macro two_tangents_to_u_circle_from_point.mac



最佳瀏覽效果:螢幕解析度800x600も瀏覽器 Internet Explorer 4.0以上

 

 

h:200; height:40; z-index:4">