Prove that the tangent at any point of a circle is perpendicular to the radius through the point of contact.


Given: A circle with center O and P be any point on a circle and XY is a tangent on circle passing through point P.


To prove : OPXY


Proof :


Take a point Q on XY other than P and join OQ .


The point Q must lie outside the circle. (because if Q lies inside the circle, XY will become a secant and not a tangent to the circle).


Therefore, OQ is longer than the radius OP of the circle. That is, OQ > OP.


Since this happens for every point on the line XY except the point P, OP is the shortest of all the distances of the point O to the points of XY.


So OP is perpendicular to XY.


[As Out of all the line segments, drawn from a point to points of a line not passing through the point, the smallest is the perpendicular to the line.]


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