Elliptic element of PSL2(R) Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A real Möbius transformation represented by with . It fixes a point of the Poincare half-plane model; an integral matrix of this type has trace or . In the Poincare disc model, moving its fixed point to zero makes it a rotation about zero.
Horocycle Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
Hyperbolic circle in the upper half-plane 2026-10-06
In the Poincare half-plane model, a hyperbolic circle of radius centred at is the Euclidean circle . Its Euclidean centre is shifted upward from its hyperbolic centre, and its Euclidean radius is . The lower height is positive. The formula follows by mapping the centre to zero in the Poincare disc model and using radial distance .
Hyperbolic disc 2026-10-06
A hyperbolic disc consists of points within a specified hyperbolic distance of its centre. In the Poincare disc model, the disc centred at zero with radius has Euclidean radius ; an isometry transports this description to any other centre.
Hyperbolic distance in the Poincare disc 2026-09-29
Ideal endpoint 2026-10-05
An ideal endpoint of a hyperbolic line is one of its two limiting points on the boundary at infinity. In the Poincare disc model these lie on the unit circle; in the upper half-plane model they lie on . These are boundary points, not points of the hyperbolic plane. Any two distinct ideal endpoints determine a unique hyperbolic line.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 ib Paper 1 4E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
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First obtain the hyperbolic circle in the upper half-plane. For centre , the fractional-linear map takes the Poincare half-plane model isometrically to the Poincare disc model, sending to zero. Direct differentiation transforms the metric to . A radial segment from zero to modulus has length . Any path to that modulus has at least this length, by ; thus it is the hyperbolic distance.
A circle of hyperbolic radius therefore satisfiesSquaring and rearranging givesHence it is a circle in Euclidean geometry, with Euclidean centre and radius . Its lowest point has height , so it stays entirely in the upper half-plane. The centres differ whenever : for example, the hyperbolic circle centred at has Euclidean centre , rather than .
For hyperbolic side-side-side congruence, use the standard fact that hyperbolic isometries act transitively on ordered point pairs with the same positive separation, and that reflection in a hyperbolic line is an isometry. Map to . The image of has prescribed distances from and from , just as does. There are at most two such points, interchanged by reflection in the line .
For completeness, normalize to points on the positive imaginary axis. Their distance circles are Euclidean circles with centres on that axis by the formula above. Subtracting their equations determines one height , and then the abscissa is determined up to its sign. Reflection interchanges these choices. Therefore either the chosen isometry or its composition with that reflection maps all three labelled vertices correctly. Equal three side lengths imply a hyperbolic isometry between the triangles.
Two sides and an unspecified equal angle do not suffice. Here is an explicit hyperbolic side-side-angle ambiguity. Fix the angle at to be , let and , and chooseBoth are positive and distinct. The hyperbolic cosine rule at becomesSetting , the condition is , whose two roots are . Construct each triangle from sides meeting at angle ; its opposite side is the same by the cosine rule. The triangles therefore share but have different third sides and cannot be isometric. If the common angle is specifically the included angle between the two given sides, the cosine rule determines the third side and side-side-side congruence does apply.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 3F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The Poincare disc model is the open unit disc equipped with the Riemannian metricThis normalization gives Gaussian curvature . In particular, a Euclidean curve has hyperbolic length ; the boundary circle is infinitely far away in hyperbolic distance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 3F c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The radial segment is a geodesic of the Poincare disc model. Its hyperbolic length isOne can also verify that it minimizes length of a curve: along any piecewise smooth curve from zero to radius , the Euclidean speed is at least the absolute radial speed. Integrating is at least the absolute change in , with equality on the radial segment. Thus the answer is independent of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 3F d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Use an isometry of the Poincare disc model to move the centre to zero. A hyperbolic disc of radius then has Euclidean radius by the hyperbolic distance formula. The area element of a surface of the Riemannian metric is , soTherefore the area is independent of the centre, and
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 4 15G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Use curvature . In the Poincare disc model, hyperbolic lines are Euclidean diameters and arcs of circles orthogonal to the unit circle, with hyperbolic length element . In the upper half-plane model, they are vertical lines and semicircles with centres on the real axis, with . Both displayed hyperbolic metrics are positive scalar multiples of the Euclidean metric, so their angles agree with Euclidean angles. The hyperbolic distance is the length of the joining hyperbolic line segment; explicitly, in the upper half-plane model,In the Poincare disc model it is .
For distinct , a isometry sends their joining hyperbolic line to the imaginary axis, so their images are with . For any continuously differentiable curve joining them,Equality in the first inequality requires everywhere, because the nonnegative difference is continuous. Equality in the second requires to have one sign, allowing zero intervals. Thus equality holds precisely for a monotone reparametrisation of the joining hyperbolic segment. Conversely every such reparametrisation gives equality. For , equality means length zero and the constant curve; monotonicity is understood non-strictly.
Two distinct hyperbolic lines are parallel hyperbolic lines if they are disjoint in the plane and have exactly one common ideal endpoint; they are ultraparallel hyperbolic lines if they are disjoint and have no common ideal endpoint. To prove the common perpendicular of ultraparallel hyperbolic lines theorem, send one line to the imaginary axis. An ultraparallel hyperbolic lines second line can, after reflection if necessary, be written as a semicircle with centre and radius satisfying . A hyperbolic line perpendicular to the imaginary axis must be a semicircle centred at zero, of some radius . The Euclidean condition for its orthogonality to the second circle isThis has exactly one positive solution, proving existence and uniqueness. Conversely, if such a common perpendicular exists, the second line cannot be another vertical line, and the same condition forces , so its endpoints lie strictly on one side of zero and it is ultraparallel hyperbolic lines. This includes exclusion of intersecting lines () and parallel hyperbolic lines ( or another vertical line). The statement concerns distinct lines: a line coincident with itself would have many perpendiculars.
A horocycle in the upper half-plane model is either a Euclidean circle tangent to the real axis from above, with the tangent point as its ideal centre of a horocycle, or a horizontal line , whose ideal centre of a horocycle is infinity. A isometry sending this centre to infinity sends the horocycle to a horizontal line. The hyperbolic lines meeting that horizontal line orthogonally are exactly the vertical lines; therefore the hyperbolic lines orthogonal to a horocycle are exactly those with its ideal centre as an endpoint.
If two horocycles have distinct horocycle centres, the unique hyperbolic line with those two ideal endpoints meets both orthogonally. If they have the same horocycle centre, send it to infinity: both become horizontal lines and every vertical hyperbolic line meets both orthogonally. HenceIn the other case there are infinitely many; intersection or tangency of the two horocycles does not change this classification.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 1 3E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
For and , the Möbius transformationis an isometry of the disc, and every orientation-preserving disc isometry has this form. In particular, sends to zero and to a point of modulusRotations are also isometries, so it remains only to integrate the metric along a radial geodesic from to :Thus the Hyperbolic distance in the Poincare disc is