How to solve this parabola question?

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1 Answer
Mar 15, 2018

The locus is a parabola and its equation is

#x^2-2x+5-y=0#

Explanation:

The equation of parabola is #x^2-4y-2x+5=0#

or #4y=(x^2-2x+1)+4#

or #4(y-1)=(x-1)^2#

and its parametric form #(x(t),y(t))# is #(2t+1,t^2+1)#

Hence, slope of tangent is #((d(t^2+1))/(dt))/((d(2t+1))/(dt))=(2t)/2=t#

and slope of normal is #-1/t#

Therefore equation of normal is

#(y-t^2-1)=-1/t(x-2t-1)#

or #ty-t^3-t=-x+2t+1#

and as it passes through #(h,k)#, we have

#tk-t^3-t=-h+2t+1#

or #t^3+t(3-k)-(h-1)=0#

Let the roots of this be #m_1,m_2# and #m_3# and their product is #h-1#.

Let #m_1# and #m_2# be perpendicuar to each other i.e. #m_1m_2=-1# and hence #m_3=1-h# and as it is root of #t^3+t(2-k+1)-(h-1)=0#, we have

#(1-h)^3+(1-h)(3-k)-(h-1)=0#

and dividing by #1-h# we get

#(1-h)^2+3-k+1=0#

or #2-2h+h^2+3-k=0#

and replacing #(h,k)# by #(x,y)#, we get

#x^2-2x+5-y=0#

or #y=(x-1)^2+4#

graph{(x^2-4y-2x+5)(x^2-2x+5-y)=0 [-9.29, 10.71, -0.08, 9.92]}