Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/ib/paper-2/12g/i/solution

Take
Its defining matrix has nonzero determinant eight, so it is a Möbius transformation. Direct substitution shows that it fixes and , which satisfy . However, . Differentiating the inverse projection formula gives the round spherical line element . At a fixed finite point, its local length multiplier under a Möbius transformation is exactly , since the metric factors in numerator and denominator agree. Here that multiplier is two, so this map is not an isometry and cannot be a rotation in three dimensions of the sphere. It demonstrates that antipodal fixed points do not characterize sphere rotations.

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