The equation of a curve is given by .
- ((i))
Find the exact coordinates of the points on the curve where the tangent is parallel to the y-axis.
- ((ii))
Show that every line parallel to the x-axis cuts the curve at two distinct points.
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Worked solution
4((i))
1. Differentiate the given equation implicitly with respect to $x$.
2. Rearrange the equation to express $\frac{dy}{dx}$ in terms of $x$ and $y$.
3. Apply the condition for the tangent to be parallel to the $y$-axis.
For a tangent parallel to the -axis (vertical tangent), the gradient is undefined, which means the denominator must be zero:
4. Substitute the relationship into the curve equation to solve for $y$.
Substitute into the original equation :
5. Find the corresponding $x$-coordinates to determine the exact points.
When :
When :
The exact coordinates are and .
and
4((ii))
1. Set up the quadratic equation for the intersection of the curve and a line parallel to the $x$-axis.
Let the equation of a line parallel to the -axis be , where is a constant.
Substitute into the equation of the curve:
Rearranging this into a quadratic equation in :
2. Formulate and simplify the discriminant of the quadratic equation.
To determine the number of real roots (which corresponds to the number of intersection points), we examine the discriminant of the quadratic equation in :
3. Analyze the discriminant and conclude the proof.
Since the square of any real number is non-negative, for all real values of .
It follows that .
Thus, .
Because the discriminant is strictly positive for any real constant , the quadratic equation will always have two distinct real roots for .
Therefore, every line parallel to the -axis cuts the curve at exactly two distinct points. (Shown)
(Shown)
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