Geometry Exercises

2
In Qn 1– Qn 5, V is a (real) vector space with inner product ⟨∗, ∗⟩, and ∥a∥ = ⟨a, a⟩1/2 for all a ∈ V .

*Qn 1. Suppose a1 , . . . , ak ∈ V are orthogonal vectors: ⟨ai , aj ⟩ = 0 for all i ̸= j . Prove by induction,
or otherwise, that Pythagoras’ Theorem generalises as follows:
∥a1 + · · · + ak ∥2 = ∥a1 ∥2 + · · · + ∥ak ∥2 .

*Qn 2. Show that the converse to Pythagoras’ Theorem holds; ie. if a, b ∈ V are vectors satisfying
∥a + b∥2 = ∥a∥2 + ∥b∥2 then a is orthogonal to b; ie. ⟨a, b⟩ = 0.

*Qn 3. Prove the Parallelogram Rule:

∥a + b∥2 + ∥a − b∥2 = 2∥a∥2 + 2∥b∥2 ,
for all a, b ∈ V . What geometric property of parallelograms does this describe?

Qn 4. Vectors v 1 , . . . , v m ∈ V are said to be orthonormal if they’re orthogonal (see Qn 1) and ∥v i ∥ = 1

for all i; otherwise said, ⟨v i , v j ⟩ = δij for all i, j = 1, . . . , m.
i) Show that orthonormal vectors v 1 , . . . , v m are linearly independent. Deduce that if V is n-dimensional
and m = n then v 1 , . . . , v n is a basis for V (an orthonormal basis).
ii) If v 1 , . . . , v n is an orthonormal basis for V show that every a ∈ V can be written:
∑
n
a= ⟨a, v i ⟩v i .
i=1

Qn 5. Let R : V → V be a transformation satisfying:

⟨R(v), R(w)⟩ = ⟨v, w⟩, for all v, w ∈ V .
i) Show that R is one-to-one. Note: R is not assumed to be linear.
ii) Suppose V is finite-dimensional, and v 1 , . . . , v n is an orthonormal basis of V . If wi = R(v i ) show
that w1 , . . . , wn is also an orthonormal basis of V . Hint: use Qn 4 (i).

*Qn 6. Let A, B, C ∈ Rn be the points with coordinates (1, . . . , 1), (2, 1, . . . , 1), (2, . . . , 2) respectively.
i) Calculate the Euclidean lengths |AB|, |AC|, |BC| of the edges of the triangle △ABC .
ii) Calculate the cosines of the angles ∡ABC, ∡CAB, ∡BCA at the vertices of △ABC . Verify that the
triangle is right-angled, and that Pythagoras’ Theorem holds.
iii) Give the edges and angles of △ABC when n = 2. What happens to the angles as the dimension n
increases?
iv) Use the following formula for the area of the triangle whose vertices have position vectors 0, a, b:
1( )1/2
area = ∥a∥2 ∥b∥2 − (a • b)2
2
to compute the area of △ABC . Does the answer agree with what we would expect from Euclid’s
formula for the area of a triangle?

Qn 7. Let ρα , ρβ be anticlockwise rotations about the origin in R2 through angles α, β respectively.

i) Show that ρβ ◦ ρα = ρα+β . Hint: use the matrices of ρα , ρβ .
ii) Use this property to show that the rotations about the origin form a commutative subgroup of O(2),
the rotation subgroup.

Qn 8. The transformation σH : Rn → Rn that reflects x ∈ Rn in a linear hyperplane H is:

σH (x) = x − 2(x • n)n,
where n ∈ Rn is a unit vector orthogonal to H . Show that σH is an orthogonal transformation:
σH (a) • σH (b) = a • b, for all a, b ∈ Rn .

Qn 9. Suppose φ : Rn → Rn is a linear transformation, and v 1 , . . . , v n is a basis of Rn . Prove φ is

orthogonal if and only if φ(v i ) • φ(v j ) = v i • v j for all i, j = 1, . . . , n.

Qn 10. Let E(n) be the set of Euclidean transformations F : Rn → Rn , defined F (x) = φ(x) + c where
φ ∈ O(n) (the orthogonal part of F ) and c ∈ Rn .
i) Show that every Euclidean transformation is an isometry; ie. E(n) ⊆ Isom(E n ).
ii) Show that E(n) is a subgroup of Isom(E n ); ie. E(n) ≤ Isom(E n ). Hint: orthogonal transformations
are linear, and O(n) is a subgroup of Isom(E n ).

Qn 11. A transformation τ : Rn → Rn is a Euclidean translation if τ (x) = x + c for all x ∈ Rn , where

c ∈ Rn is a fixed vector (the shift vector). Let T (n) denote the set of all translations of Rn .
i) Show that T (n) is an abelian (aka. commutative) subgroup of E(n) (see Qn 10).
ii) Show that T (n) is a normal subgroup of E(n); ie. T (n) ◁ E(n).
iii) Show that T (n) is isomorphic to (Rn , +). Hint: there’s a natural map f : T (n) → Rn ; write it down,
and show it’s a group isomorphism.

Qn 12. Let φ : Rn → Rn be a linear transformation, with matrix M .

i) If M t is the transpose matrix show that:
 
φ(e1 ) • φ(e1 ) . . . φ(e1 ) • φ(en )
 .. .. 
M tM =   . . 

φ(en ) • φ(e1 ) . . . φ(en ) • φ(en )
ii) Deduce that φ is orthogonal if and only if M −1 = M t . Hint: use Qn 9.
iii) Prove that if φ is orthogonal then det M = ±1.
iv) Define a mapping sgn : E(n) → {−1, 1} by sgn(F ) = det Mφ , where Mφ is the matrix of the
orthogonal part φ of F (see Qn 10). Show that sgn is a group homomorphism.

Qn 13. Recall (group theory) that if G is a group and N ◁ G is a normal subgroup then the set G/N
of left cosets of N :
G/N = {gN : g ∈ G}
is a group under the binary operation (aN )(bN ) = abN for all a, b ∈ G (the quotient group), and the
quotient map ν : G → G/N defined ν(g) = gN is a group homomorphism.
Suppose that G = E(n) and N = T (n) (see Qn 11). Show that the restriction of ν to the subgroup
O(n) < E(n) is a group isomorphism.
Hint: you need to show that ν : O(n) → E(n)/T (n) is one-to-one and onto. Recall that a group
homomorphism is one-to-one if and only if its kernel contains only the identity element.

CMW, Spring 2020