Comprehensive Oxford Mathematics and Physics Online School (COMPOS)

Year 12

Mathematics Assignment 01
Coordinate Geometry and Vectors
Vladlena Kazantseva, Elena Boguslavskaya, Vladimir Chernov, Alexander Lvovsky

Due 10 October 2024

This is the first Mathematics assignment from COMPOS Y12. This assignment is designed to stretch
you and no student is expected to complete all questions on the first attempt. The problems are hard,
but do not let this discourage you. Give each problem a go, and skip to the next one if you are stuck.
The questions in each section are arranged in the order of increasing complexity, so you should try all
sections. Very similar problems will be discussed in tutorials and webinars, so think of the questions
you would like to ask. We hope that eventually you will be able to solve most of the problems. Good
luck!

Total 47 marks

1 Theoretical Recap

We shall start by compiling a few fundamental results (covered in year 10) on co-ordinate geometry and
vectors. You should be already familiar with them, but we provide links to Art of Problem Solving and
Khan Academy videos in case you need a reminder. We will go through some of these formulae again in
subsequent sections.

1.1 Coordinate Geometry

• The distance between two points A(x1 , y1 ) and B(x2 , y2 )

p
|AB| = (x2 − x1 )2 + (y2 − y1 )2 .

How to calculate the distance between two points.

• The midpoint (x, y) of a segment with ends A(x1 , y1 ) and B(x2 , y2 )
x1 + x2 y1 + y2
x= , y= .
2 2
How to calculate the midpoint of a segment.
• The equation of a straight line
y = mx + c,
where m is the gradient, and (0, c) is the y-intercept.
How to write the equation of a line in slope-intercept form

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 • If a straight line makes an angle θ with the positive x-axis (measured anticlockwise from the axis) then
the gradient of that line is
m = tan θ
• Equation of a line with gradient m passing through point A(x0 , y0 )
y − y0 = m(x − x0 ).
How to write the equation of a line in point-slope form
• Lines parallel to the x-axis are written as y = a, where a is a constant.
Lines parallel to the y-axis are written as x = b, where b is a constant.

• Two lines y = m1 x + c1 and y = m2 x + c2 are parallel if and only if m1 = m2 .

Two lines y = m1 x + c1 and y = m2 x + c2 are perpendicular if and only if m1 m2 = −1.
Equations of parallel and perpendicular lines.

• Equation of a circle with centre at (x0 , y0 ) and radius R

(x − x0 )2 + (y − y0 )2 = R2 .
How to write the equation of a circle in standard form.

1.2 Vectors
 
ax
• The product of a vector with the coordinates ⃗a = by a scalar k is a vector
ay
 
kax
k⃗a = . (1)
kay
When a vector ⃗a is multiplied by a scalar k, the resulting vector k⃗a is collinear to ⃗a. If k < 0 the
vector k⃗a is antiparallel to vector ⃗a.
Watch the Khan Academy video: Multiplying a vector by a scalar
   
ax b
• For two vectors with the coordinates ⃗a = and ⃗b = x , their sum is the vector given by
ay by
 
ax + bx
⃗a + ⃗b = . (2)
ay + by
Please watch the following Khan Academy videos: Adding & Subtracting vectors, Parallelogram rule
and Subtracting vectors with parallelogram rule. Review an Isaac Physics example on Describing and
adding vectors.
• The scalar (dot) product has two equivalent definitions.
   
ax b
Definition 1. For two vectors with the known coordinates ⃗a = and ⃗b = x , the dot product is
ay by
the number given by
⃗a · ⃗b = ax bx + ay by . (3)

Definition 2. For two vectors ⃗a and ⃗b with known magnitudes and directions, the dot product is the
number given by
⃗a · ⃗b = |⃗a||⃗b| cos θ, (4)
where θ is the angle between vectors.
The equivalence of the two definitions is derived from the law of cosines, as shown in this video by
Virtually Passed.

2
2 Straight lines

2.1 Straight lines and vectors

It is often convenient to formulate coordinate geometry in terms of vectors. In the Physics Assignment on
vectors, you became familiar with the notion
 of  the radius-vector ⃗rA of a point A, which is the vector from
xA
the origin to that point. The coordinates of the radius vector are the same as the coordinates of the
yA
 
xB − xA
point. The coordinates of the vector connecting two points A and B are then ⃗rB − ⃗rA = .
yB − yA

y
⃗r − ⃗r0
y

⃗b
⃗r0
y0
x
x0 0 x

   
x0 x
A straight line passing through a point with the radius-vector ⃗r0 = consists of all points ⃗r =
y0 y
 
x
such all vectors from ⃗r0 to ⃗r = have the same direction. In other words, all these vectors are multiple
y
 
b
of some direction vector ⃗b = x . Hence we can write
by
   
⃗ x − x0 b
⃗r − ⃗r0 = λb ⇒ =λ x ,
y − y0 by
where λ is a number (a scalar). We can rewrite this as a pair of equations
x − x0 = λbx ;
y − y0 = λby . (5)
Dividing both sides of these equations by each other, we obtain the familiar equation of a straight line (in
the point-slope form):
y − y0
= m,
x − x0
where m = by /bx is the gradient (slope) of the line. We can rewrite the latter equation as
x − x0 y − y0
= . (6)
bx by

Parallel lines have direction vectors that are the same (or proportional to each other), meaning that they
have the same slope. Perpendicular lines have perpendicular direction vectors. To relate the coordinates of
these vectors, let us recall the two definitions of the scalar product of two vectors
⃗b1 · ⃗b2 = |b1 ||b2 | cos θ = b1x b2x + b1y b2y ,

3
where θ is the angle between them. For ⃗b1 ⊥ ⃗b2 , θ = π/2 and cos θ = 0. Hence
b1x b2y 1
b1x b2x + b1y b2y = 0 ⇒ =− ⇒ m1 = − ,
b1y b2x m2
which is again a familiar result.

Example 1. (PAT 2010) Find the equation of the line passing through the points A(2, 3) and B(1, 5) in
the xy plane.

Solution. To find the equation of the line passing through points A(2, 3) and B(1, 5) calculate the gradient
y2 − y1 5−3
m= = = −2.
x2 − x1 1−2
Now we can write the equation using the gradient and the coordinates of one of the points, for example
A(2, 3):
y − 3 = −2(x − 2).
Rearranging the terms we obtain y = −2x + 7.

Problem 1 (2 marks). Points A(0, 0), B(6, 0) and C(4, 4) are vertices of a triangle. Write the equations of
the three medians1 of that triangle, check that they intersect at the same point and find the coordinate of
that point. Check that this point divides each median in a ratio of 2:1.

Problem 2 (4 marks). Points A(−4, −2), B(−3, 1) and C(−1, −5) are corners of an isosceles trapezium
ABCD. Find the coordinates of D if AB is parallel to DC.

Problem 3. (3 marks) ABCD is a rhombus. M and N are the midpoints of BC and CD respectively.
Find ∠M AN , if ∠ADC = 120◦ and AB = 12.

√
Problem 4. (5 marks) ABCD is a parallelogram. AB = 3 2, AD = 8, ∠BAD = 45◦ , M is a point on
CD, CM : M D = 1 : 2. N is a point on AD, AN : N D = 3 : 1. Find:

a) the length of AM ;
b) the length of BN ;
c) the acute angle between AM and BN .

Problem 5. (4 marks) ABC is an equilateral triangle with side 12. M is a point on BC such that the ratio
of the areas of ∆ABM and ∆ACM = 1 : 5. Find:

a) length of AM ;
b) the angle ∠AM B.

Problem 6∗ . (4 marks) Find the length of the angle bisector AM of the triangle ABC, if AB = c, AC = b
and ∠A = α.
1 A median of a triangle is the line connecting one of its vertices to the midpoint of the opposite edge. It is known from

Euclidean geometry that the three medians of any triangle intersect at the same point and that this point (the triangle’s centre
of mass) divides each median in a ratio of 2:1. Please watch the video by MIT OpenCourseWare for a proof.

4
3 Circles

3.1 Introductory problems

Example 2 (PAT 2013). Find the equation of the straight line that passes through the centres of the two
circles:
x2 + 4x + y 2 − 2y = −1
and
x2 − 4x + y 2 − 6y = 3.

Solution: To find the centres of the circles we need to complete the square and write the equations for the
circles in the standard form:

x2 + 4x + y 2 − 2y = −1 ⇒ x2 + 4x + 4 + y 2 − 2y + 1 − 5 = −1 ⇒ (x + 2)2 + (y − 1)2 = 4,

therefore the first circle has the centre at (−2, 1), and for the second, similarly,

(x − 2)2 − 4 + (y − 3)2 − 9 = 3,

meaning the second circle has the centre at (2, 3). All we need to do now is to write a line that passes
through the points (−2, 1) and (2, 3), which is a standard task:
3−1
y−1= (x − (−2)),
2 − (−2)

which can be rearranged as

x
y= + 2.
2

Problem 7 (1 mark). Find the equation of the straight line which is parallel to the x axis and crosses the
circle x2 + y 2 = 9 in points A and B in such a way that |AB| = 2. Consider all possible solutions.

Problem 8. (PAT 2008, 2 marks) The points (5, 2) and (−3, 8) are at opposite ends of the diameter of a
circle. Determine the equation of the circle.

Problem 9 (PAT 2018, 3 marks). Determine the area inside the circle defined by:

x2 + y 2 − 8x + 4y + 4 = 0

but outside the triangle bounded by the three lines below:

y = x−7
1
y = (2x − 29)
5
x = 7

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3.2 Inscribed and circumscribed circles

The circle inscribed into a triangle is the circle which is tangent2 to all three sides of a triangle. The circle
circumscribed around a triangle passes through all three vertices of the triangle.

For each triangle, there exists exactly one inscribed and exactly one circumscribed circle. The centre of the
inscribed circle is at the intersection of angle bisectors of the triangle. The centre of a circumscribed circle is
at the point of intersection of the perpendicular bisectors of each side. Please make a drawing and convince
yourself of these facts. This Krista King Math page may be helpful.

Example 3. For an isosceles triangle with sides 4, 3, 3 find the:

a) radius of the inscribed circle;

b) radius of the circumscribed circle.

Solution. We start by choosing a coordinate system and drawing a diagram.

√
5
y= x
2
√
B(2, 5)
• √
5
y= x
5
• O1
A(0, 0) θ C(4, 0)
• • • x
M (2, 0)

x=2

As we know, the centre of the inscribed circle is at the intersection of angle bisectors. Let us find the
equations of two of the bisectors. One of them is easy: the bisector BO1 of ∠B is vertical and has equation
x = 2.

Let us now find the bisector AO1 of ∠A. We find from the Pythagoras’ theorem that the √ height of the
√ √ 5
triangle is 32 − 22 = 5, which gives us the y coordinate of point B. Hence tan θ = . Using the
√ √2
sin θ 5/3 5
trigonometric formula for the tangent of the half-angle: tan(θ/2) = = = . This is the
√ 1 + cos θ 1 + 2/3 5
5
slope of AO1 , so its equation is y = x.
5
2 For a point P on a circle, the tangent line to a circle at P is a line that intersects the circle at P and has no other common

points with the circle. The tangent line is always perpendicular to the radius drawn to P . Here we will show how to find the
tangent lines to a given circle which pass through a given point.

6
 √
2 5
Solving simultaneously with x = 2 we find O1 (2, ). The radius of the inscribed circle is equal to the
√ 5
2 5
length of O1 M , i.e. rinsc = .
5

To find the radius of the circumscribed circle we will use the same coordinate system. The centre of the
circle is O2 :

√
B(2, 5)
•

√
• N (1, 5
2 )

A(0, 0) • O2 C(4, 0)
• • • x
M (2, 0)

√ √
2 5 9 5
y=− x+
5 10

x=2

We use the same approach, but now we need the equations of two perpendicular bisectors. One of them —
the perpendicular bisector of AC — is x = 2
√
2 2 5
The perpendicular bisect to AB has the gradient − √ = − because it is perpendicular to AB.
5 5
√ !
5
N 1, is the midpoint of AB. Using the point-slope formula we find the equation of line N O2 :
2

√ √ √ √
5 2 5 2 5 9 5
y− =− (x − 1) ⇒ y = − x+ .
2 5 5 10

√ !
5
To find the point O2 , substitute x = 2: O2 2,
10

√ √
√ 5 9 5
The radius of the circumscribed circle is equal to the length of BO2 : Rcirc = 5− = .
10 10
√ √
2 5 9 5
Answer: ; .
5 10

7
This example shows a neat property of the coordinate method: it can be used to solve problems that are
not phrased in the coordinate language. Indeed, almost every geometry problem can be solved using this
method (albeit not always elegantly). A few more examples will follow.

Problem 10 (3 √ marks). Find the equation of the circle inscribed in the triangle with vertices A(1, 0),
B(5, 0) and C(3, 5).

Hint: You may notice a special property of the triangle that simplifies the calculation.

Problem 11 (2 marks). Write down the equation of the circle that passes through the vertices of the
triangle created by line 2x + 3y = 6, x-axis and y-axis.

4 Coordinate method in 3D-geometry

In 3D, we have three coordinate axes, which are mutually orthogonal. Every point is defined by its coordinates
(x, y, z) by orthogonal projections on the corresponding axis (just as we have it in a two-dimensional case).
We can also define a three-dimensional
 vector. For two points A(x1 , y1 , z1 ) and B(x2 , y2 , z2 ) the vector from
x2 − x1
−−→
A to B is AB =  y2 − y1 .
z2 − z1

Some facts from 3D-geometry are direct generalisation of their 2D-counterparts:.

−−→
• The distance between two points A(x1 , y1 , z1 ) and B(x2 , y2 , z2 ) (the magnitude of the vector AB) is
p
|AB| = (x2 − x1 )2 + (y2 − y1 )2 + (z2 − z1 )2 .
x − x0 y − y0
• The formula for a line passing through a point M (x0 , y0 , z0 ) along a vector (a, b, c) is = =
a b
z − z0
. This formula is a generalisation of Eq. (6) and further explained in the How To Find The Vector
c
Equation of a Line video by The Organic Chemistry Tutor.
• The two familiar definitions of the scalar product of two vectors are directly extended from 2D to 3D:
⃗a · ⃗b = |⃗a| · |⃗b| · cos θ = ax bx + ay by + az bz ,
where θ is an angle between vectors ⃗a and ⃗b. Hence the angle between two vectors can be found via
⃗a · ⃗b
cos θ = .
|⃗a||⃗b|
• The angle ϕ between the two planes
α : a1 x + b1 y + c1 z + d1 = 0
β : a2 x + b2 y + c2 z + d2 = 0
is given by
a1 a2 + b1 b2 + c1 c2
cos ϕ = p 2 p .
a1 + b21 + c21 · a22 + b22 + c22
Please derive this result on your own, observing that ϕ is equal to the angle between the normal vectors
to the two planes in question.

8
Here are a few definitions of 3D shapes that you will need to solve the problems below.

• A polyhedron (polytope) is a shape whose surface consists of a finite number of polygons (called the
faces of the polyhedron). A polyhedron is regular if its faces are congruent regular polygons.
• A prism is a polyhedron that consists of two congruent polygons (known as the prism’s bases) in two
parallel planes as well as segments connecting their corresponding vertices. A prism is right if these
segments are perpendicular to the bases. A right prism is regular if its bases are regular polygons. The
height of a prism is the distance between the bases. A cylinder is an analog of a prism with circles as
the bases.
• A pyramid is a polyhedron that consists of a polygon (known as the pyramid’s base), a point outside
the plane of that polygon (the apex ) and segments connecting the vertices of the base to the apex. The
height of a pyramid is the distance between the apex and the plane of the base. A pyramid is regular
if its base is a regular polygon and its lateral edges are all equal in length3 . A cone is an analog of a
pyramid with a circle as the base.
• A sphere is the set of all points in space that are located at a certain distance (the radius) from a
given point (the centre). We call a sphere circumscribed around a polyhedron if all the vertices of the
polyhedron lie on the sphere. We call a sphere inscribed in a polyhedron if it touches all its faces.

Five Platonic Solids. Since ancient Greece, it has been known that there exist just five regular polyhedrons,
also known as the five Platonic solids: tetrahedron, cube (hexahedron), octahedron, dodecahedron and
icosahedron. We invite you to watch this video by Zach Star which explains why there are only five of them.

Image source: Wikipedia.

Example 4. In a regular tetrahedron with edge length 1, find

a) the height,
b) the radius R of the circumscribed sphere.

Solution. Let △ABC be the base of the tetrahedron, and M the midpoint of BC. Because the median √ AM
3
is also the height of △ABC (an equilateral triangle with side length 1), we find AM = 1×cos 30◦ = . The
2
1 1
center of mass O of △ABC divides AM in proportion AO : OM = 2 : 1, hence AO = √ and OM = √ .
3 2 3

The base center O is the orthogonal projection of the regular tetrahedron’s apex D onto the base plane.
√
r
2
Hence AOD is a right-angled triangle. Its leg DO = AD2 − AO2 = is the height of the tetrahedron.
3

The centre Q of the circumscribed sphere is located on line

r DO, and we must have QA = QD = R. In
2 1
the right triangle AOQ, one cathetus OQ = DO − QD = − R, the other cathetus AO = √ and the
3 3
3A regular prism or a regular pyramid are not necessarily regular poyhedrons according to these definitions.

9
hypothenuse AQ = R. Writing the Pythagorean theorem,
r !2 r √
1 2 2 2 2 2 3
+ −R =R ⇒ 1 − 2R +R =R ⇒ R= √ .
3 3 3 2 2

D
•

Q•
C• •A
•
• O
M
•
B

Problem 12 (3 marks). For a regular tetrahedron with edge length 1, find

a) the angles the lateral edges make with the base;

b) the angles the lateral faces make with the base4 .

Problem 13 (4 marks). Find the angle between the adjacent faces of a regular octahedron.

Problem 14 (4 marks). A football is placed in the corner of a rectangular room, touching two walls and
the floor. A smaller ball (e.g. a tennis ball) is placed in the same corner, touching both walls, the floor and
the football. Find the ratio of the radii of the two balls.

Hint: introduce a 3D coordinate system with the origin in the corner of the room.

4 The angle between two planes is equal to the angle between the normal (perpendicular) vectors of the two planes.

10
Example 5. P H is the height of a regular square pyramid P ABCD, O is the intersection point of medians
of triangle BCP . Find the angle between the lines P H and AO, given that AB = P H.

•P

•O
B• •
y
C
•
H
A• •D
x

Solution. Let us introduce a coordinate system as shown in the diagram and determine the coordinates of
points A, O, P , and H. Suppose the side of the base equals 1, then we will obtain the coordinates A(1, 0, 0),
H(1/2, 1/2, 0), P (1/2, 1/2, 1). To find the coordinate of O, we write the median of △BCP drawn from point
1 ⃗ 
⃗ . Because the median intersection point divides that vector in the ratio of
B is as a vector BP + BC
2
⃗ = 1 BP
 
2:1, we can write BO ⃗ + BC ⃗ and hence the coordinates of O are (1/6, 1/2, 1/3).
3

  1
⃗ = 5 1 1 ⃗ = (0, 0, 1). And so cos ϕ = 3r 2
Then we get the vectors AO − , , , HP = √ ⇒ ϕ=
6 2 3 √ 38 38
1×
36
2
arccos √ .
38

Problem 15 (3 marks). In a regular square pyramid SABCD with apex S, the height is equal to the
diagonal of the base. Point F lies at the midpoint of edge SA. Find the angle between lines SD and BF .

11