Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ia/paper-1/5b/ii/solution

The sphere-plane intersection is governed by the orthogonal projection of the sphere's centre onto the plane. Since has unit length, let , the signed distance from to the plane along . The following parts determine the centre and radius and retain this sign; the radii alone cannot distinguish the two possible sides of the oriented plane.

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