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The tangent line is the instantaneous rate of change at a point on a curve.

The secant line crosses a curve twice at points A and B, representing the average rate of change between those two points.

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Q: What is the difference between tangent and secant line?
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Difference between secant lines and tangent lines?

A secant line touches a circle at two points. On the other hand a tangent line meets a circle at one point.


Can a line be tangent to one circle and a secant to the other in concentric circles?

Yes, it can as long as it is not the tangent line of the outermost circle. If it is tangent to any of the inner circles it will always cross the outer circles at two points--so it is their secant line--whereas the tangent of the outermost circle is secant to no circle because there are no more circles beyond that last one.


What is a line called that intersects a circle at one point?

A tangent line. A line that intersects a circle at two points is a secant.


A tangent line is a line that intersects a circle at exactly two points?

No. A tangent touches the circle at exactly one point. A line that intersects a circle at exactly two points is a secant.


What is difference between chord and secant?

a chord is a line segment and its endpoints are on the circle. a secant line is a "line" (meaning it is continuous and has no end points) that intersects a circle (in two places if that's not obvious). > > > Beans63


How is that any line intersecting the interior of a given circle is a secant of that circle?

Any line that enters a circle (and is not a tangent) must cross its boundary twice; once to enter, once to exit. Since a secant is a line segment that joins two different points on a curve, such a line as above is a secant.


Do a straight line and a curved line form avertex at its joining point?

A tangent at that point where a straight line just touches a curve and a secant line when the straight line bisects the curve.


What line meets the circle at exactly one point?

The tangent line. A secant line hits the circle in two places and forms a cord, but the tangent line only hits the circle in one point and is always perpendicular to the radius of the circle which exists at that point.


What is the relationship between a tangent line and a radius in a circle?

A tangent line is always perpendicular to the radius.


Secant line?

A secant line is a line that cuts a circle in two places.


How did Descartes find the equation of a tangent line?

According to Wikipedia.'Suppose that a curve is given as the graph of a function, y = f(x). To find the tangent line at the point p = (a, f(a)), consider another nearby point q = (a + h, f(a + h)) on the curve. The slope of the secant passing through p and q is equal to the difference quotientAs the point q approaches p, which corresponds to making h smaller and smaller, the difference quotient should approach a certain limiting value k, which is the slope of the tangent line at the point p. If k is known, the equation of the tangent line can be found in the point-slope form:'


A tangent of a circle is a secant of the circle true or false?

A tangent of a circle is not a secant of a circle, so the answer is false. A tangent of a circle is a line that intersects the curve of the circle at exactly one point on the curve. It could be said to "touch" the circle at one unique location. Obviously there are an infinite number of lines that can be drawn to do this. A secant of a circle is a line that touches the curve of the circle at exactly two unique points on the curve. It might be considered "similar" to the chord of a circle, which is a line segment with endpoints at two unique locations on the curve of a circle. Except that the secant of a circle is a line and not a line segment. Any chord of a circle that is overlaid with a line, which is like saying that we "extend" the line segment that is the chord of the circle on each end, and do so all the way to infinity, we'll have the secant of a circle. Let's take things one step further. If a circle and a line are coplanar (lie in the same plane), one of three things will be true. Either they will have no (zero) points of intersection, or they'll have one point of intersection, or they'll have two points of intersection. There are no other possibilities. Think this through and it will make complete sense. A lot of geometry will "work like this" when we study it and think it through. Use the links below to check out the idea of a tangent and a secant of a circle.