Practicing Success
If the curves $\frac{x^2}{a^2}+\frac{y^2}{b^2}=1$ and $\frac{x^2}{c^2}+\frac{y^2}{d^2}=1$ intersect orthogonally, then |
$a^2-b^2=c^2-d^2$ $a^2-c^2=b^2-d^2$ $a^2 b^2=c^2 d^2$ $\frac{1}{a^2}+\frac{1}{b^2}=\frac{1}{c^2}+\frac{1}{d^2}$ |
$a^2-b^2=c^2-d^2$ |
The equations of the two curves are $C_1: \frac{x^2}{a^2}+\frac{y^2}{b^2}=1$ .....(i) $C_2: \frac{x^2}{c^2}+\frac{y^2}{d^2}=1$ .....(ii) Suppose these two curves intersect at $P\left(x_1, y_1\right)$. Then, $\frac{x_1{ }^2}{a^2}+\frac{y_1{ }^2}{b^2}=1$ .....(iii) and, $\frac{x_1{ }^2}{c^2}+\frac{y_1{ }^2}{d^2}=1$ .....(iv) Differentiating (i) and (ii) with respect to x, we get $\left(\frac{d y}{d x}\right)_{C_1}=-\frac{b^2 x}{a^2 y}$ and $\left(\frac{d y}{d x}\right)_{C_2}=-\frac{d^2 x}{c^2 y}$ If the two curves intersect orthogonally at P. Then, $-\frac{b^2 x_1}{a^2 y_1} \times-\frac{d^2 x_1}{c^2 y_1}=-1 \Rightarrow b^2 d^2 x_1{ }^2=-a^2 c^2 y_1{ }^2$ .....(v) Subtracting (iv) from (iii), we get $\frac{x_1{ }^2}{a^2}-\frac{x_1{ }^2}{c^2}+\frac{y_1{ }^2}{b^2}-\frac{y_1{ }^2}{d^2}=0$ $\Rightarrow x_1{ }^2 \frac{\left(a^2-c^2\right)}{a^2 c^2}=y_1{ }^2 \frac{\left(d^2-b^2\right)}{b^2 d^2}$ $\Rightarrow b^2 d^2 x_1{ }^2\left(a^2-c^2\right)=a^2 c^2 y_1{ }^2\left(d^2-b^2\right)$ $\Rightarrow a^2-c^2=-\left(d^2-b^2\right)$ [Using (v)] $\Rightarrow a^2-b^2=c^2-d^2$ |