Circle of $\varepsilon$-radius on Riemann sphere related to exterior of $1/\varepsilon$-circle

166 Views Asked by At

I've recently read in a book on complex variables that the points which are located on the spherical sector within the radius of a circle of radius $\varepsilon$ on the Riemann sphere are projected stereographically to the points lying in the complex plane beyond the circle of radius $1/\varepsilon$. So I decided to prove this, and my proof follows next, but I believe there should be a simpler, more straightforward proof based on trigonometry. Please let me know if you can find one.enter image description here

So we have the segment $NC$ of length $\varepsilon$ and we need to find the length of the segment $AE$. We know the following:

  • The angle $\delta$.
  • The length of the segment $AN$ is $1$.
  • $h=1$

We can calculate the angle $\beta$ from the given data. We can also find $\varepsilon = 2\cos(\beta)=\frac{2}{\sec\beta}$.

$\delta = \frac{\pi}{2}-\theta=\pi - 2\beta$

So we can find $AE = \frac{\sin\beta}{\sin\delta}=\frac{\sin\beta}{\sin(\pi-2\beta)}=\frac{\sec\beta}2$.

Thus we have the needed relation.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

10
On

Let $H$ be the midpoint of $NC$. Triangles $HNA$ and $ANE$ are similar, thus: $$ NH:NA=NA:NE, \quad\hbox{that is:}\quad {\epsilon\over2}:1=1:NE, $$ whence $NE=2/\epsilon$ and $AE=\sqrt{4/\epsilon^2-1}$.