A point P is 25 cm away from the centre of a circle and the length of tangent drawn from P to the circle is 24 cm.
Question:
A point P is 25 cm away from the centre of a circle and the length of tangent drawn from P to the circle is 24 cm. Find the radius of the circle.
Solution:
Draw a circle and let $P$ be a point such that $O P=25 \mathrm{~cm}$.
Let $T P$ be the tangent, so that $T P=24 \mathrm{~cm}$
Join $O T$, where $O T$ is radius.
Now, tangent drawn from an external point is perpendicular to the radius
at the point of contact.
$\therefore O T \perp P T$
In the right $\triangle O T P$, we have:
$O P^{2}=O T^{2}+T P^{2} \quad[$ By Pythagoras' theorem: $]$
$O T^{2}=\sqrt{O P^{2}-T P^{2}}$
$=\sqrt{25^{2}-24^{2}}$
$=\sqrt{625-576}$
$=\sqrt{49}$
$=7 \mathrm{~cm}$
$\therefore$ The length of the radius is $7 \mathrm{~cm}$.