z = z2

z = zmax

R
z = z3 c

O
R

z = zmin

z = z1

Figure 1: |z − c| = R

Chapter 1, Exercise 6, p 46

Part (i)
In diagram 1 c is a fixed complex number. Consider the point where z = z1 :
The distance from z1 to c is |z1 − c| = R
So if z moves so that this distance R of z from c remains fixed then z must
trace out a circle of radius R centred at c. In the diagram two other points
on the circle are shown at z = z2 and z = z3 .

Part (ii)
Given that z satisfies the equation |z + 3 − 4i| = 2, then using part (i) means
that this is the equation of a circle with centre at (−3, 4) and radius 2.
If c = −3 + 4i then |c|2 = (−3)2 + 42 = 25 → |c| = 5.

The dotted line in figure 1 is the straight line which passes through the
origin and the centre c of the circle. It is clear from figure 1 that |z| obtains
its maximum and minimum values at the points where the circle intersects
this line, so that |zmax | = |c| + R, and |zmin | = |c| − R, when |c| ≥ R and
|zmin | = R − |c|, when |c| < R.
So when c = −3 + 4i then |zmax | = |c| + R = 5 + 2 = 7 and
|zmin | = |c| − R = 5 − 2 = 3.

If we write φ = arg(c) then we know that cos φ = −3/5 and sin φ = 4/5,
and since arg(zmin ) = arg(zmax ) = arg(c) = φ, we can write

1
zmin = |zmin |{cos φ + i sin φ} and
zmax = |zmax |{cos φ + i sin φ} and so
zmin = 3 × (−3/5) + i3 × (4/5) = −9/5 + i12/5 and
zmax = 7 × (−3/5) + i7 × (4/5) = −21/5 + i28/5