Consider a fixed circle with equation
and a shrinking circle
with radius r and center at the origin. P is the point
, Q is the upper point of intersection of the two circles, and R is the point of intersection of the line PQ and the x-axis. What happens to R as
shrinks, that is as
? (Stewart, James - Calculus Concepts and Contexts, Section 2.3, problem 44, pg. 119)
(See How I made the diagram below to see how this figure was generated. It was a bit of a pain, but does make for a nice illustration.)