How do you write an equation of a circle with center (-2,1) and radius with endpoint at (1,0)?

2 Answers
Dec 28, 2017

(x+2)^2+(y-1)^2=10

Explanation:

The simplest equation for a circle is:
color(white)("XXX")X^2+Y^2=R^2
for a circle with center at (0,0) and radius R

If we want to shift this so the center is at (-2,1)
then the X values become x=X-2color(white)("xx")rarrcolor(white)("xx")X=x+2
and
the Y values become y=Y-1color(white)("xx")rarrcolor(white)("xx")Y=y-1
So X^2+Y^2 becomes (x+2)^2+(y-1)^2

The radius is une3ffected by the shift and will remain the same length.
The radius is the distance between the center (-2,1) and any point on the circumference; in this case we are given the point (1,0)
Using the Pythagorean Theorem this gives us a radius squared of
color(white)("XXX")R^2=((-2)-1)^2+(1-0)^2=10

Therefore the equation of our (shifted) circle will be
color(white)("XXX")(x+2)^2+(y-1)^2=10

Dec 28, 2017

(x+2)^2+(y-1)^2=10

Explanation:

"the standard form of the equation of a circle is "

color(red)(bar(ul(|color(white)(2/2)color(black)((x-a)^2+(y-b)^2=r^2)color(white)(2/2)|)))

"where "(a,b)" are the coordinates of the centre and r"
"is the radius"

"the distance from the centre to the endpoint gives r"

"to calculate r use the "color(blue)"distance formula"

•color(white)(x)r=sqrt((x_2-x_1)^2+(y_2-y_1)^2)

rArrr=sqrt((-2-1)^2+(1-0)^2)=sqrt10

(x-(-2))^2+(y-1)^2=(sqrt10)^2

rArr(x+2)^2+(y-1)^2=10larrcolor(red)"equation of circle"