Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2007 / ia / Paper 1 / 5B / i / Solution

Decompose the position vector into its components parallel and perpendicular to the unit vector $\mathbf{u}$:This is an orthogonal projection, and the Pythagorean theorem gives $|\mathbf{r}{|}^2=s^2+|\mathbf{v}{|}^2$. The two surfaces are distinguished by fixing an angle in part (a), and fixing distance from an axis in part (b).