Tangent Lines to Circles

Tangent Lines to Circles

Read each question carefully and provide your answer in the space provided. Show all your work for full credit.

1. Define a tangent line to a circle. How does it differ from a secant line?

2. State the theorem that describes the relationship between a tangent line and the radius drawn to the point of tangency.

3. In the diagram below, line AB is tangent to circle O at point P. If the radius of the circle is 5 units and the distance from O to B is 13 units, find the length of AB.

4. If two tangent segments are drawn to a circle from the same external point, then the segments are:

5. A line that intersects a circle at exactly one point is called a  .

6. The point where a tangent line touches a circle is known as the   of  .

7. A tangent line can intersect a circle at two points.