Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/ib/paper-3/12g/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ib Paper 3 12G iii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Rotate the disc so that and , with representing half the smaller angle. For , the hyperbolic line joining them is the arc of a circle orthogonal to the unit circle. Its Euclidean centre is real, say , and orthogonality gives squared radius . Substituting into gives , with radius .
The arc's point nearest zero is on the positive real axis, atDistance from zero in the Poincare disc model increases with Euclidean modulus, by the radial-length calculation. ThereforeFor , the hyperbolic line is a diameter through zero and its distance is zero, agreeing with the continuous limit of the formula. Choosing the smaller endpoint angle avoids a spurious negative value caused by an inappropriate oriented-angle convention.
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