A triangle has corners at #(5 ,1 )#, #(2 ,9 )#, and #(4 ,3 )#. What is the area of the triangle's circumscribed circle?
1 Answer
The area of the circle is
Explanation:
When I do this type of problem, I always shift the 3 points so that one of them becomes the origin:
The standard equation of a circle is:
where
Use equation [1] and the 3 shifted points to write 3 equations:
Equation [2] simplifies to a very useful equation:
Substitute the left side of equation [5] into the right sides of equations [3] and [4]:
Expand the squares on the left side of equations [6] and [7]:
Collect the constant terms into a single term on the right:
Multiply equation [13] by -4 and add to equation [12]:
Substitute
Use equation [5] to compute
The area of the circle is: