Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 3 7E iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The assertion is true over the complex numbers. It suffices to generate every nonzero scaling using translations and , since these together with scalings already generate the Möbius group.
For , compose the maps rightmost first. Away from the intermediate poles, the successive values areHenceFor every , choose a complex square root with . This gives and proves Möbius scaling generated by translations and reciprocal inversion. Equality of the rational maps extends the identity to all points of the Riemann sphere, including the intermediate exceptional values.