Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/prelims/mathematics-iv/1/b/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford 2015 Prelims Mathematics IV 1 b ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Suppose a line through meets each . Its intersection with is different from , so lies in . A nonzero direction vector for must therefore satisfyA square matrix admitting a nonzero vector with has zero determinant. Expanding givesThus the necessary condition isThe condition is not sufficient. Take , which is on none of the three original lines. It satisfies the condition, since . The three plane equations becomeTheir common intersection is the single line . Any proposed line through meeting all three original lines would have to be this . But never meets : their second and third coordinates differ. The zero determinant guarantees a common direction for the three planes; it does not guarantee the required intersections. This is a parallel obstruction to a transversal of three skew lines.
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