Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2011 / ia / Paper 1 / 6A / b / Solution

At $\alpha =0$, $\Phi$ is the orthogonal projection onto the plane perpendicular to $n$. Its image of a linear map and kernel of a linear map areEvery perpendicular vector is unchanged and every parallel vector is annihilated. The image plane is perpendicular to the kernel axis by the definition of $n^{\perp }$; their dimensions two and one also agree with the rank-nullity theorem.