Question

Construct a direct common tangent to two circles of radii 5 cm and 2 cm whose centres are 3 cm apart.

Answer 1

• Draw a line segment of $3cm\left(AB\right)$
• Draw a circle of radius $5cm$ taking centre as $A$
• Draw a circle of radius $2cm$ taking centre as $B$
• Let $P$ be the point of contact of two circles.
• Join $AP$ and draw perpendicular to $AP$ at vertex $P$
• The perpendicular $X{X}^{\prime }$ is the direct common tangent to two circles.