3 Coordinate Geometry

Chapter 3

COORDINATE GEOMETRY
Learning Outcome 3.1

 Find the length, gradient and mid-point of a line segment, given the coordinates of the end-
points.
 Understand and use the relationships between the gradients of parallel and perpendicular
lines.
 Understand the relationship between a graph and its associated algebraic equation, and use
the relationship between points of intersection of graphs and solutions of equations (including,
in simple cases, the correspondence between a line being tangent to a curve and a repeated
root of an equation).

3.1 Length, Mid-point and Gradient

1. Review of the Cartesian Plane/ Coordinate System:

(a) x-axis: horizontal line
(b) y-axis: vertical line
(c) origin (0, 0)  the point of intersection of the x and y axes.
(d) quadrants  one of the 4 regions formed by the x and y axes.

2. Distance between two points:

By using the Pythagoras Theorem,

AB 2  AC 2  BC 2

 x2  x1    y 2  y1 
2 2

AB  x2  x1 2   y 2  y1 2

3. Mid-point of a straight line:

 x  x2 y1  y 2 
Let Ax1 , y1  and B x2 , y 2  . The mid-point of AB   1 , .
 2 2 

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4. The gradient of a straight line.

The gradient (slope) of a straight line

joining Ax1 , y1  and B x2 , y 2  is given by:

y 2  y1
m AB 
x2  x1

5. (a) zero gradient: (b) infinite gradient:

- line parallel to x – axis - line parallel to y – axis

6. The two straight lines are parallel if they have same gradient.

m1  m2

7. The two straight lines are perpendicular to each other if the product of their gradient is -1.

m1 .m2  1

8. The point where two lines (or curves) cut is called a point of intersection. To find the
intersections point(s), substitute one equation into the other one, and solve it.

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 3 Coordinate Geometry
Example 1 MJ06/Q5
The curve y 2  12x intersects the line 3 y  4 x  6 at two points. Find the distance between the two
points.

Example 2 ON07/Q6

The three points A (3, 8), B (6, 2) and C (10, 2) are shown in the diagram. The point D is such that the
line DA is perpendicular to AB and DC is parallel to AB. Calculate the coordinates of D.

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Example 3
The vertices of a triangle are the points A2,4, B1,2 and C  2,3 respectively. The point H a, b 
lies on the altitude through A . Find a relationship between a and b .

Learning Outcome 3.2

 Find the equation of a straight line given sufficient information (e.g. the coordinates of two points
on it, or one point on it and its gradient).
  
Interpret and use linear equations, particularly the forms y  y1  m x  x1 and y  mx  c .

3.2 Equations of A Straight Line

1. The equation of the line with gradient m and passing through the point  x1 , y1  is

y  y1
 m  y  y1  m x  x1   y  mx  c where c is the y - intercept.
x  x1

4. The general equation of straight line is ax  by  c  0 where a, b, c are constant and

a ≠ 0 or b ≠ 0.
**Tip: Usually to find an equation of a straight line, we need to find the gradient for the line.

5. To test if a point lies on a line/ curve, substitute the values of its coordinates into the equation.
The point lies on the curve if, and only in, the equation is satisfied. (LHS = RHS)

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3.3 Shortest Distance from A Point to A Straight Line

1. The shortest distance of P from l, d is given by

ah  bk  c
d
a2  b2

Example 4
Find the distance of the point (2, 3) to the straight line 3x  4 y  7  0 .

Example 5
Find the shortest distance between the line 5 x  12 y  5  0 and 5 x  12 y  21  0 .

3.4 Area of Plane Figures

1. Area of triangle Ax1 , y1 , Bx2 , y2 , C x3 , y3  :

Area of ABC =

=
1
x1 y2  x2 y3  x3 y1   x2 y1  x3 y2  x1 y3 
2

2. Area of the figure Ax1 , y1 , Bx2 , y2 , C x3 , y3 , Dx4 , y4 ,......, N xn , yn 

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1
= [ (sum of all products ) – (sum of all products )]
2
Example 6 MJ04/Q6
6
The curve y  9  and the line y  x  8 intersect at two points. Find
x
(a) the coordinates of the two points,
(b) the equation of the perpendicular bisector of the line joining the two points.

Example 7 MJ07/Q6
The diagram shows a rectangle ABCD. The point A
is (2, 14), B is (-2, 8) and C lies on the x-axis. Find
(a) the equation of BC
(b) the coordinates of C and D.

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Example 8 ON02/Q9

The diagram shows a rectangle ABCD , where A is 3,2  and B is 1,6  .

(i) Find the equation of BC .
Given that the equation of AC is y  x  1 , find
(ii) the coordinates of C ,
(iii) the perimeter of the rectangle ABCD .

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Example 9 MJ05/Q5

The diagram shows a rhombus ABCD . The points B and D have coordinates 2,10  and 6,2 
respectively, and A lies on the x -axis. The mid-point of BD is M . Find, by calculation, the
coordinates of each of M , A and C .

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Learning Outcome 3.3:

 Understand that the equation ( x  a)2  ( y  b)2  r 2 represents the circle with centre .
(a, b) and radius r .
 Use albebraic methods to solve problems involving lines and circles.

3.5 Equation of Circles

y
( x  h) 2  ( y  k ) 2  r 2
General Form: x 2  y 2  2 gx  2 fy  c  0
r
Standard Form: ( x  h) 2  ( y  k ) 2  r 2
( h, k )
Centre: ( h, k )
x
0 Radius:

Example 10
Find the centre of the circle and the radius.
(a) ( x  1) 2  ( y  2) 2  7 (b) x 2  4 x  y 2  6 y  12

Example 11
(i) The line joining the points A(4,5) and B( p, q) has mid-point M (1,3) . Find p and q .
AB is the diameter of a circle.
(ii) Find the radius of the circle.
(iii) Find the equation of the circle, giving your answer in the form x2  y 2  ax  by  c  0 .
(iv) Find an equation of the tangent to the circle at the point (4,5) .

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Example 12
A circle has equation ( x  2)2  y 2  20 .
(i) Write down the radius of the circle and the coordinates of its centre.
(ii) Find the points of intersection of the circle with the y -axis and sketch the circle.
(iii) Show that, where the line y  2 x  k intersects the circle, 5x2  (4k  4) x  k 2  16  0 .
(iv) Hence find the values of k for which the line y  2 x  k is a tangent to the circle.

Example 13 (Specimen Paper 20/P1/Q10)

The circle x 2  y 2  4 x  2 y  20  0 has centre C and passes through points A and B .

(a) State the coordinates of C .
 1 1
It is given that the midpoint, D , of AB has coordinates 1 ,1  .
 2 2
(b) Find the equation of AB , giving your answer in the form y  mx  c .
(c) Find, by calculation, the x -coordinates of A and B .

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Extra notes:

Geometric Properties of Different Types of Quadrilaterals.

1. Different types of quadrilaterals have different geometric properties.

2. Types of quadrilaterals:

(a) Rectangle

(i) All interior angles are right angles.

(ii) Opposite sides are parallel and equal in length
(iii) Diagonals are equal in length and bisect each other.

(b) Square

(i) All interior angles are right angles.

(ii) All sides are equal in length.
(iii) Opposite sides are parallel.
(iv) Diagonals are equal in length and bisect each other at right angles.
(v) Diagonals also bisect the angles at the vertices.

(c) Parallelogram

(i) Opposite sides are parallel and equal in length.

(ii) Diagonals bisect each other.
(iii) In this sense, rectangles, squares and rhombuses are considered as
parallelograms as well.

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(d) Rhombus

(i) All sides are equal in length

(ii) Opposite sides are parallel.
(iii) Diagonals bisect each other at right angles.
(iv) Diagonals also bisect the angles at the vertices.

(e) Trapezium

(i) Two opposite sides are parallel.

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Geometric Properties of Different Types of Triangles.

1. Types of Triangles:
(a) Scalene Triangle

(i) It has three sides of different lengths and also three different angles.

(b) Isosceles Triangle

(i) It has two sides that are equal in length, called legs and the third side is known
as base.
(ii) The angles opposite the equal sides are equal.

(c) Equilateral Triangle

(i) It has three equal sides.

(ii) Three angles are also equal = 60o.

(d) Right triangle

(i) There is one right angle, which measures exactly 90o.

(e) Acute triangle – in an acute triangle all the three angles measure less than 90 degrees.
Obtuse triangle – It has one internal angle greater than 90o.

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