Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 3 / 83 of 260 #83 of 2000

Problem 83

AMC 10/12, early questions
Geometry Difficulty 3.3 Find the answer

Let point PP be any point on the circle x2+y2=4x^{2}+y^{2}=4, and let the fixed point DD have coordinates (8,0)(8,0). When point PP moves on the circle, the equation of the trajectory of the midpoint MM of segment PDPD is ______.

Official solution

Let the coordinates of point MM be (x,y)(x,y), and the coordinates of point PP be (x0,y0)(x_{0},y_{0}).
Then, we have x=x0+82x= \dfrac {x_{0}+8}{2}, y=y02y= \dfrac {y_{0}}{2}. That is, x0=2x8x_{0}=2x-8, y0=2yy_{0}=2y.
Since point P(x0,y0)P(x_{0},y_{0}) is on the circle x2+y2=4x^{2}+y^{2}=4, we have x02+y02=4x_{0}^{2}+y_{0}^{2}=4.
That is, (2x8)2+(2y)2=4(2x-8)^{2}+(2y)^{2}=4, which simplifies to (x4)2+y2=1(x-4)^{2}+y^{2}=1. This is the equation of the trajectory of the moving point MM.
Therefore, the answer is: (x4)2+y2=1\boxed{(x-4)^{2}+y^{2}=1}
To find the coordinates of point MM, we use the midpoint formula to write a system of equations, solve for x0x_{0} and y0y_{0}, and substitute into the equation of the given circle.
This method of finding the trajectory equation is known as the related point method.
This problem examines the related point method for finding the trajectory equation. When using this method, it is important to set the coordinates of the moving point as (x,y)(x,y), and the relationship between xx and yy obtained at the end is the desired equation.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.