Question

A rod of length 12 cm moves with its ends always touching the coordinate axes. Determine the equation of the locus of a point P on the rod, which is 3 cm from the end in contact with the x-axis.

Answer 1

Let AB be the rod making an angle θ with OX and P (x, y) be the point on it such that AP = 3 cm.
Then, PB = AB – AP = (12 – 3) cm = 9 cm [AB = 12 cm]
From P, draw PQ⊥OY and PR ⊥ OX.

Thus, the equation of the locus of point P on the rod is X²/81 + Y²/9 =1.