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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it Brazil

Let HH be the hyperboloid 3x2+3y2z21=03x^2 + 3y^2 - z^2 - 1 = 0.
(a) Prove that every point (x,y,z)H(x, y, z) \in H belong to exactly two lines contained in HH.
(b) Prove that all lines contained in HH form the same angle with the plane z=0z = 0, and find that angle.

Solution

The solution is based on the following
Theorem. Let P=(x0,y0,0)P = (x_0, y_0, 0) be a point in the xy-plane and (a,b,1)(a, b, 1) a vector perpendicular to the vector v=(x0,y0,0)v = (x_0, y_0, 0), that is, such that ax0+by0=0a x_0 + b y_0 = 0.
Then the set of points obtained by rotating the line P+tvP + t \cdot v, tRt \in \mathbb{R}, around the zz-axis is the hyperboloid
x2+y2(a2+b2)z2=x02+y02. x^2 + y^2 - (a^2 + b^2)z^2 = x_0^2 + y_0^2.
Moreover, each point of the hyperboloid belong to exactly one of the rotated lines.
Proof. A generic point in the line :P+tv\ell: P + t \cdot v is Q=(x0+at,y0+bt,t)Q = (x_0 + a t, y_0 + b t, t), tRt \in \mathbb{R}. Since
(x0+at)2+(y0+bt)2(a2+b2)t2=x02+y02+2(ax0+by0)t+a2t2+b2t2(a2+b2)t2=x02+y02, (x_0 + a t)^2 + (y_0 + b t)^2 - (a^2 + b^2) t^2 \\ = x_0^2 + y_0^2 + 2(a x_0 + b y_0)t + a^2 t^2 + b^2 t^2 - (a^2 + b^2)t^2 = x_0^2 + y_0^2,
QQ belongs to the aforementioned hyperboloid. Since rotating the line around the zz-axis does not change the zz-coordinate of QQ and the section of the hyperboloid in the plane z=tz = t is a circle, the image of QQ obtained by rotating \ell belongs to the hyperboloid as well.
Conversely, if (x1,y1,z1)(x_1, y_1, z_1) belongs to the hyperboloid, then it belongs to the plane z=z1z = z_1, whose section in the hyperboloid has equation x2+y2=(a2+b2)z12+x02+y02=(a2+b2)z12+x02+y02+2ax0z1+2by0z1=(x0+az1)2+(y0+bz1)2x^2 + y^2 = (a^2 + b^2)z_1^2 + x_0^2 + y_0^2 = (a^2 + b^2)z_1^2 + x_0^2 + y_0^2 + 2a x_0 z_1 + 2b y_0 z_1 = (x_0 + a z_1)^2 + (y_0 + b z_1)^2. So there exists a rotation σ\sigma around the zz-axis that maps (x1,y1,z1)(x_1, y_1, z_1) to the point Q=(x0+az1,y0+bz1,z1)Q = (x_0 + a z_1, y_0 + b z_1, z_1) from \ell. So (x1,y1,z1)(x_1, y_1, z_1) can be obtained by applying the inverse rotation σ1\sigma^{-1} to \ell. Note that σ\sigma is unique, so only one of the rotated lines passes through QQ.
Now we can solve the problem. In this case, since the hyperboloid has equation 3x2+3y2z21=0    x2+y213z2=133x^2 + 3y^2 - z^2 - 1 = 0 \iff x^2 + y^2 - \frac{1}{3}z^2 = \frac{1}{3} we can use (x0,y0,0)=(33,0,0)(x_0, y_0, 0) = (\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 0, 0) and (a,b,1)=(0,33,1)(a, b, 1) = (0, \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 1).

a. Since (a,b,1)=(0,33,1)(-a, -b, 1) = (0, -\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 1), which is not parallel to (a,b,1)(a, b, 1), is also perpendicular to (x0,y0,0)(x_0, y_0, 0), the hyperboloid can be obtained rotating either the line 1:(33,0,0)+t(0,33,1)\ell_1: (\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 0, 0) + t(0, \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 1) or 2:(33,0,0)+t(0,33,1)\ell_2: (\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 0, 0) + t(0, -\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 1). So each point from HH belongs to at least two lines. We will prove that there are no other lines by showing that HH does not contain a line that is neither parallel to (0,33,1)(0, \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 1) nor (0,33,1)(0, -\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 1). Suppose it does. Since the sections of HH by horizontal planes are circles, this new line is not parallel to the xyxy-plane. So it contains a point in this plane, which we can suppose, without loss of generality, that is (33,0,0)(\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 0, 0).
So suppose the line r:(33,0,0)+t(c,d,1)r: (\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 0, 0) + t(c, d, 1) is contained in HH. So, for all tRt \in \mathbb{R},
3(33+tc)2+3(td)2t21=0(3c2+3d21)t2+233tc=0{233c=03c2+3d21=0{c=0d=±33 \begin{aligned} & 3 \left( \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} + t c \right)^2 + 3 \cdot (t d)^2 - t^2 - 1 = 0 \\ \Leftrightarrow & (3c^2 + 3d^2 - 1)t^2 + \frac{2\sqrt{3}}{3} t c = 0 \\ \Leftrightarrow & \begin{cases} \frac{2\sqrt{3}}{3}c = 0 \\ 3c^2 + 3d^2 - 1 = 0 \end{cases} \quad \Leftrightarrow \quad \begin{cases} c = 0 \\ d = \pm \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} \end{cases} \end{aligned}
So the support vector of rr should be (0,33,1)(0, \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 1) or (0,33,1)(0, -\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 1), and we are done.

b. We need to compute the angle that the vectors (0,±33,1)(0, \pm\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 1) define with the xyxy-plane: arctan13/3=60\arctan \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}/3} = 60^\circ.

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