Finding intersection points of line and circle - line

Question

Im trying to understand what this function does. It was given by my teacher and I just cant understands, whats logic behind the formulas finding x, and y coordinates. From my math class I know I my formulas for finding interception but its confusing translated in code. So I have some problems how they defined the formulas for a,b,c and for finding the coordinates x and y.
void Intersection::getIntersectionPoints(const Arc& arc, const Line& line) {
double a, b, c, mu, det;
std::pair<double, double> xPoints;
std::pair<double, double> yPoints;
std::pair<double, double> zPoints;
//(m2+1)x2+2(mc−mq−p)x+(q2−r2+p2−2cq+c2)=0.
//a= m2;
//b= 2 * (mc - mq - p);
//c= q2−r2+p2−2cq+c2
a = pow((line.end().x - line.start().x), 2) + pow((line.end().y - line.start().y), 2) + pow((line.end().z - line.start().z), 2);
b = 2 * ((line.end().x - line.start().x)*(line.start().x - arc.center().x)
+ (line.end().y - line.start().y)*(line.start().y - arc.center().y)
+ (line.end().z - line.start().z)*(line.start().z - arc.center().z));
c = pow((arc.center().x), 2) + pow((arc.center().y), 2) +
pow((arc.center().z), 2) + pow((line.start().x), 2) +
pow((line.start().y), 2) + pow((line.start().z), 2) -
2 * (arc.center().x * line.start().x + arc.center().y * line.start().y +
arc.center().z * line.start().z) - pow((arc.radius()), 2);
det = pow(b, 2) - 4 * a * c;
/* Tangenta na kružnicu */
if (Math<double>::isEqual(det, 0.0, 0.00001)) {
if (!Math<double>::isEqual(a, 0.0, 0.00001))
mu = -b / (2 * a);
else
mu = 0.0;
// x = h + t * ( p − h )
xPoints.second = xPoints.first = line.start().x + mu * (line.end().x - line.start().x);
yPoints.second = yPoints.first = line.start().y + mu * (line.end().y - line.start().y);
zPoints.second = zPoints.first = line.start().z + mu * (line.end().z - line.start().z);
}
if (Math<double>::isGreater(det, 0.0, 0.00001)) {
// first intersection
mu = (-b - sqrt(pow(b, 2) - 4 * a * c)) / (2 * a);
xPoints.first = line.start().x + mu * (line.end().x - line.start().x);
yPoints.first = line.start().y + mu * (line.end().y - line.start().y);
zPoints.first = line.start().z + mu * (line.end().z - line.start().z);
// second intersection
mu = (-b + sqrt(pow(b, 2) - 4 * a * c)) / (2 * a);
xPoints.second = line.start().x + mu * (line.end().x - line.start().x);
yPoints.second = line.start().y + mu * (line.end().y - line.start().y);
zPoints.second = line.start().z + mu * (line.end().z - line.start().z);
}

Answer 1

Denoting the line's start point as A, end point as B, circle's center as C, circle's radius as r and the intersection point as P, then we can write P as
P=(1-t)*A + t*B = A+t*(B-A) (1)
Point P will also locate on the circle, therefore
|P-C|^2 = r^2 (2)
Plugging equation (1) into equation (2), you will get
|B-A|^2*t^2 + 2(B-A)\dot(A-C)*t +(|A-C|^2 - r^2) = 0 (3)
This is how you get the formula for a, b and c in the program you posted. After solving for t, you shall obtain the intersection point(s) from equation (1). Since equation (3) is quadratic, you might get 0, 1 or 2 values for t, which correspond to the geometric configurations where the line might not intersect the circle, be exactly tangent to the circle or pass thru the circle at two locations.