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I have a circle of radius r.

Given two lines tangent to the circle at points (x1,y1) and (x2,y2),

What are the coordinates of the point where the two tangents cross?

2 Answers 2

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Let $(x_m,y_m)$ be the middle of $(x_1,y_1)$ and $(x_2,y_2)$. It turns out that the point $(x_p,y_p)$ you are looking for is a multiple of $(x_m,y_m)$ and that its distance from the origin is $r$ over the distance of $(x_m,y_m)$ from the origin.

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Equation of tangent on circle $x^2+y^2=r^2$ at point $(x_1,y_1)$ is $xx_1+yy_1=r^2$

Similarly, tangent at $(x_2,y_2)$ is $xx_2+yy_2=r^2$

These are two linear equations which can be solved easily for intersection point