The equation above defines a circle in the xy-plane. What are the coordinates of the center of the circle?
Choice B is correct. The standard equation of a circle in the xy-plane is of the form , where
are the coordinates of the center of the circle and r is the radius. The given equation can be rewritten in standard form by completing the squares. So the sum of the first two terms,
, needs a 100 to complete the square, and the sum of the second two terms,
, needs a 64 to complete the square. Adding 100 and 64 to both sides of the given equation yields
, which is equivalent to
. Therefore, the coordinates of the center of the circle are
.
Choices A, C, and D are incorrect and may result from computational errors made when attempting to complete the squares or when identifying the coordinates of the center.