Question

Study the following diagram, where point C lies in the exterior of circle O.

Segment WC is tangent to circle O at point W.
CO¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯, CW¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯, and OW¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ are drawn in to create △OWC.
Circle O as described, where O W equals r.


If WC=15 and CO=17, what is OW?
Enter the correct value.

Answer 1

OW = sqrt(CO^2-WC^2)=sqrt(17^2-15^2)=8