The locus of the point of intersection of the lines $x=a\left(\frac{1-t^2}{1+t^2}\right)$ and $y=\frac{2 a…

The locus of the point of intersection of the lines $x=a\left(\frac{1-t^2}{1+t^2}\right)$ and $y=\frac{2 a t}{1+t^2}$ represent $(t$ being a parameter)
  1. Circle
  2. Parabola
  3. Ellipse
  4. Hyperbola

Solution

Given $x=a\left(\frac{1-t^2}{1+t^2}\right)$ and $y=\frac{2 a t}{1+t^2}$ $\begin{aligned} & \text { Let } \quad t=\tan \theta \\ & \Rightarrow \quad x=a\left(\frac{1-\tan ^2 \theta}{1+\tan ^2 \theta}\right) \\ & \text { and } \quad y=\frac{2 a \tan \theta}{1+\tan ^2 \theta} \\ & \Rightarrow \quad x=a \cos 2 \theta \text { and } y=a \sin 2 \theta \\ & \Rightarrow \cos 2 \theta=\frac{x}{a} \text { and } \sin 2 \theta=\frac{y}{a} \end{aligned}$ Squaring both sides, we get $\cos ^2 2 \theta=\frac{x^2}{a^2}$....(i) and $\sin ^2 2 \theta=\frac{y^2}{a^2}$....(ii) Adding Eqs. (i) and (ii), we get $\begin{aligned} \quad \cos ^2 2 \theta+\sin ^2 2 \theta & =\frac{x^2}{a^2}+\frac{y^2}{a^2} \\ \Rightarrow \quad x^2+y^2 & =a^2 \end{aligned}$ $\therefore$ Locus is a circle having centre at origin and radius $a$.

Asked in: BITSAT 2024 (Memory Based Paper 3)

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