NAME

DATE

BAND

ANGLES AND CIRCLES

ADV GEOMETRY | PACKER COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE

Warm Up I: Angles and Circles!

1. We have a point and a line drawn below. We define the distance between any point
and any line as the shortest distance between the point and the line.
Find the distance between the point and the
(Be sure to draw the line segment that

line in millimeters.
that you measured.)

Make a conjecture about the relationship between the line segment you
drew and the line.

What evidence do you have that your statement is true? What reasoning could you use
to justify your conjecture?

2. (a) Were giving you an angle Draw a point that is equidistant from both rays of
the angle.

(b) Ms. Stutt says you can use that point to draw a circle that is tangent to both
rays. Figure out a way, and explain how Ms. Stutt knew that this was possible!
Definition: A circle is tangent to a line if it only intersects the line once.

(c) Sad. There is only one circle. But arent there more circles you can draw that are
tangent to both rays? There are! Draw moar! MOAR! And dont forget to draw the
centers.
Do you have at least 5 circles drawn? No? Draw more. Better now? Good. You may move
on.
(d) Look carefully at all the centers of these circles youve drawn. Make a conjecture
about these centers.
Conjecture:
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Note: If your conjecture on the previous page was that all the centers of these circles
formed a single line, thats good But you can do better How does that line relate to
the angle?
Heres some help
Conjecture: If you have an angle, and you plot the centers of circles that are tangent to
both rays of the angle,
these points form a line which:
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We can extend/rewrite that a bit!
Conjecture: If you have an angle, all points which are equidistant from the rays of the
angle lie on a line which:
_________________________________________________________________________________________.
Now heres the rub. How the heck do ya prove it?1 Dont come up with a formal proof
right now. You just want to come up with a basic plan for the proof.
Heres a diagram to help you. There is
it.

also one on the next page if you need

1 Okay, maaaaaybe there is a beautifully simple argument you can make with patty
paper. And you should feel free to do that. But then we want you to come up with an
argument without patty paper. The reason? Because we are going to have you visualize
this in an interesting way, and for that, we want you to play around with it a bit more.
Sans patty paper.

Heres a second diagram and more space to

help you.

Leave this box blank for now. Were going to use it to write down precisely what big
question this circle/angle exploration raises for us!