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Printjmc
geometry senior
Problem
The vertices of a triangle are the points of intersection of the line , the line , and . Find an equation of the circle passing through all three vertices.

Solution
Let and be the points of intersection in quadrants 4, 1, and 2 respectively. To find the coordinates of and , we take two line equations at a time and solve for and . Doing so yields points , , and as vertices of the triangle.
The circle that passes through the three vertices is the circumcircle of the triangle, and by definition, its center is the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors of the triangle's sides. To find the center, it suffices to find two perpendicular bisectors (since the third must pass through the intersection of the first two). We find that the perpendicular bisector of is the line and the perpendicular bisector of is the line . These two perpendicular bisectors intersect at , which is the center of our desired circle.
To find the radius of our circle, we calculate the distance between the origin and any one of the vertices. The radius has length . Thus, our circle has formula , or .
The circle that passes through the three vertices is the circumcircle of the triangle, and by definition, its center is the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors of the triangle's sides. To find the center, it suffices to find two perpendicular bisectors (since the third must pass through the intersection of the first two). We find that the perpendicular bisector of is the line and the perpendicular bisector of is the line . These two perpendicular bisectors intersect at , which is the center of our desired circle.
To find the radius of our circle, we calculate the distance between the origin and any one of the vertices. The radius has length . Thus, our circle has formula , or .
Final answer
x^2 + y^2 = 13