1

4. STRAI GHT LI NES

Synopsis :
1. If a line makes an angle (0 <) with x-axis in the positive direction, then is called
inclination of the line and tan is called slope of the line. Slope of a line is denoted by m.
2. If is an angle between two nonvertical lines having slopes m
1
, m
2
then tan =
2 1
2 1
m m 1
m m
+

.
3. If is the acute angle between the lines having slopes m
1
, m
2
then tan =
2 1
2 1
m m 1
m m
+

.
4. The equation of the horizontal line passing through (x
1
, y
1
) is y =y
1
.
5. The equation of the vertical line passing through (x
1
, y
1
) is x =x
1
.
6. Slope point form : The equation of the line passing through A(x
1
, y
1
) and having slope m
is yy
1
=m(xx
1
).
7. Two points form : The equation of the line passing through (x
1
, y
1
) and (x
2
, y
2
) (x
1
x
2
) is
yy
1
=

1 2
1 2
x x
y y
(xx
1
).
8. If a line cuts x-axis at A(a, 0) and y-axis at B(0, b), then a is called x-intercept and b is
called y-intercept of the line.
9. Slope intercept form : The equation of the line having slope m and y-intercept c is y =
mx +c.
10. The equation of the line parallel to ax +by +c =0 and passing through (x
1
, y
1
) is a(xx
1
) +
b(yy
1
) =0
11. The equation of the line perpendicular to ax +by +c =0 and passing through (x
1
, y
1
) is
b(xx
1
)a(yy
1
) =0.
12. Intercepts form : The equation of the line having x-intercept a and y-intercept b is
1
b
y
a
x
= + .
13. The area of the triangle formed by the line 1
b
y
a
x
= + with the coordinate axes is | ab |
2
1
.
14. The area of the triangle formed by the line ax +by +c =0 with the coordinate axes is
| ab | 2
c
2
.
15. Perpendicular form or normal form : The equation of the line which is at a distance of p
from the origin and A, 0 A <360
o
is the angle made by the perpendicular with positive
direction of x-axis is xcosA +ysinA =p.
16. The equation of the line ax +by +c =0 in the perpendicular form is
2 2 2 2 2 2
b a
c
b a
by
b a
ax
+

=
+
+
+
if c 0;
2 2 2 2 2 2
b a
c
b a
by
b a
ax
+

=
+
+
+
if c >0.
Straight lines
2
17. The perpendicular distance from a point P(x
1
, y
1
) to the line ax +by +c =0 is
2 2
1 1
b a
| c by ax |
+
+ +
.
18. The distance between the two parallel lines ax +by +c
1
=0 and ax +by +c
2
=0 is
2 2
2 1
b a
| c c |
+

.
19. The equations x =x
1
+rcos, y =y
1
+rsin are called parametric equations with
parameter r of the line passing through (x
1
,y
1
)and having inclination .
20. The ratio in which the line L =ax +by +c =0 divides the line segment joining A(x
1
, y
1
),
B(x
2
, y
2
) is L
11
: L
22
where L
11
=ax
1
+by
1
+c, L
22
=ax
2
+by
2
+c
21. The points A, B lie in the same side or opposite sides of the line L =0 according as L
11
,
L
22
have the same sign or opposite signs.
22. Let Lax +by +c =0 be a line and A(x
1
, y
1
) be a point. Then A lies in the origin side of L =
0 if cL
11
>0 and A lies in the opposite to the origin side of L =0 if cL
11
<0.
23. The condition that the lines a
1
x +b
1
y +c
1
=0, a
2
x +b
2
y +c
2
=0, a
3
x +b
3
y +c
3
=0 to be
concurrent is 0
c b a
c b a
c b a
3 3 3
2 2 2
1 1 1
= .
24. If is the angle between the lines a
1
x +b
1
y +c
1
=0, a
2
x +b
2
y +c
2
=0, then cos =
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
2 1 2 1
b a b a
b b a a
+ +
+
.
25. If is an acute angle, then cos =
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
2 1 2 1
b a b a
| b b a a |
+ +
+
and sin =
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
1 2 2 1
b a b a
| b a b a |
+ +

.
26. If ( /2) is an angle between the lines a
1
x +b
1
y +c
1
=0, a
2
x +b
2
y +c
2
=0 then tan =
2 1 2 1
1 2 2 1
b b a a
b a b a
+

.
27. The lines a
1
x +b
1
y +c
1
=0, a
2
x +b
2
y +c
2
=0 are parallel if
2
1
2
1
b
b
a
a
= .
28. The lines a
1
x +b
1
y +c
1
=0, a
2
x +b
2
y +c
2
=0, are perpendicular if a
1
a
2
+b
1
b
2
=0.
29. The foot of the perpendicular from (x
1
, y
1
) to the line ax +by +c =0 is (ar +x
1
, br +y
1
)
where r =
2 2
1 1
b a
) c by ax (
+
+ +
.
30. The image of (x
1
, y
1
) w.r.t the x-axis is (x
1
, y
1
).
31. The image of (x
1
, y
1
) w.r.t the y-axis is (x
1
, y
1
).
32. The image of (x
1
, y
1
) w.r.t the line ax +by +c =0 is
(ar +x
1
, br +y
1
) where r =
2 2
1 1
b a
) c by ax ( 2
+
+ +
.
33. The image of (x
1
, y
1
) w.r.t the line x =y is (y
1
, x
1
).
Straight lines
3
34. i) The image of y =k w.r.t. x-axis is y =k.
ii) The image of x =k w.r.t y-axis is x =k.
35. The area of the triangle formed by the lines y =m
1
x +c
1
, y =m
2
x +c
2
, y =m
3
x +c
3
is

2 1
2
2 1
m m
) c c (
2
1
.
36. If p is the altitude of an equilateral triangle then
i) length of the side =2p/ 3 .
ii) area of the triangle =p
2
/ 3 .
37. The area of the parallelogram formed by a
1
x +b
1
y +c
1
=0, a
1
x +b
1
y +d
1
=0, a
2
x +b
2
y +
c
2
=0, a
2
x +b
2
y +d
2
=0 is
1 2 2 1
2 2 1 1
b a b a
) d c )( d c (

.
38. The area of the rhombus formed by ax by c =0 is
| ab |
c 2
2
.
39. Equation of the line passing through (x
1
, y
1
) and making an angle A with the line ax +by +
c =0 are given by yy
1
=m
1
(xx
1
) where m
1
=
b A tan a
A tan b a

+
and yy
1
=m
2
(xx
1
) where m
2
=
A tan a b
a A tan b
+

.
40. The equation of the line whose portion between the coordinate axes is divided by the
point (x
1
, y
1
) in the ratio m:n is n m
y
my
x
nx
1 1
+ = + .
41. The image of the line lx +my +n =0 with respect to ax +by +c =0 is (a
2
+b
2
)(lx +my +
n) 2(la +mb)(ax +by +c) =0.
42. The number of lines that can be drawn through the point P at a distance d units from the
point Q is i) 0 if PQ <d,
ii) 1 if PQ =d iii) 2 if PQ>d.
43. The distance of the point (x
1
, y
1
) from the line ax +by +c =0 measured along a line
making an angle with x-axis is
+
+ +
sin b cos a
c by ax
1 1
.
44. If P is the orthocentre of the ABC, then the orthocentre of the triangle formed by any
three points P, A, B, C will be the remaining the point.
45. Area of the parallelogram or rhombus, equations of whose sides are given is
sin
p p
2 1
where
p
1
, p
2
are distance between the parallel lines and is the angle between adjacent sides