Polar of a Point

Polar of a Point

This mode constructs the polar of a point with respect to a conic. The point and the conic can be selected in any order. The polar, which is a line, is then constructed.

This mode has a few very interesting special cases that deserve some extra attention. If the point is on the conic itself, then the unique tangent to the conic that passes through that point is constructed. Even more special, if the conic is a circle and the point lies on the circle, then the tangent to the circle that passes through the point is constructed. Although this mode gives access to general polars, this special case will most probably be its main application.

General Polar		Tangent to conic		Tangent to circle