Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-1/7/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2013 Paper 1 7 iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Inverting gives , hence the elliptic coordinatesEliminating at fixed gives the ellipseIts focal distance is . At fixed , eliminating instead gives the hyperbolaIts focal distance is also one, so both families have foci . A fixed traces an appropriate half of the hyperbola; complementary coordinate values complete it. Degenerate values give the focal segment and portions of the coordinate axes. Away from these degeneracies the curves are orthogonal by part (i), or by in the displayed parametrization. A branch of the inverse is used locally; its real part with is single-valued outside the focal segment.
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