Question

What would the length of segment BC have to be in order for line BC to be tangent to circle

Answer 1

Given data:

The first given length is AC=53.

The second given length is AB= 45.

The expression for the Pythagoras theorem is,

$\begin{gathered} AB^2+BC^2=AC^2 \\ (45)^2+BC^2=(53)^2 \\ BC^2=784 \\ BC=28 \end{gathered}$

Here, consider only positive sign of BC length as side cannot negative.

Thus, the BC length is 28.