Need help with a locus question, question below
Find the locus of "modulus(z-3) + modulus(z+3) =5"
Looks like an ellipse but when i let z=x+iy it comes out as a hyperbola........
Any ideas people?
There's no way that could be an ellipse.
The geometric interpretation for an ellipse uses:
PS + PS' = 2a
The problem lies in the fact the SS' = 6 (draw a diagram to see this), so the sum of two sides (PS and PS') of triangle PSS' is LESS than the third side which is a
violation of the triangle inequality!
Hence there is NO valid locus that satisfies the condition in the question...
Algebraically, the flaw is MUCH harder to spot.
Now consider, if the question was instead written like:
We end up with the SAME equation, either way because the step where we square both sides eliminates the information of the negative sign in the original question! In the second case, the geometric interpretation is correct using PS - PS' = 2a (provided PS > PS') and the triangle inequality is not violated.
The flaw in the original part lies in the bits in red and blue.
For the part in red, the LHS of the equality is
non-negative so the RHS must obviously also be non-negative which leads to the condition:
Note that squaring both sides here is OKAY because both sides are positive.
For the part the blue, again the LHS of the equality is
non-negative so the RHS must obviously also be non-negative which leads to the condition:
So for the final answer to be valid, BOTH the following conditions must be satisfied:
This can easily be shown graphically.
Now consider the final answer obtained which was
If you consider the sketch or the natural domain (x ≥ 2.5 and x ≤ - 2.5) of this hyperbola and compare that with the sketch of the two restrictions mentioned above, you will notice that NEITHER can be simultaneously satisfied i.e. the hyperbola does not exist under the given restrictions.
This means that there is NO valid solution for the locus.
Take home message:
take care when squaring both sides!!!!!