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Exercise 1.4 · Q142

Q.Find the equation in cartesian coordinates of the locus of zz: [the printed source's fraction/modulus layout is corrupted at this sub-item — could not reliably reconstruct the verbatim stem]

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Concept understanding — Locus of a Complex Number

If z=x+iyz=x+iy represents a variable point P(x,y)P(x,y) and z1=x1+iy1z_1=x_1+iy_1 represents a fixed point A(x1,y1)A(x_1,y_1) in the Argand plane, then ∣z−z1∣|z-z_1| is precisely the ordinary Euclidean distance between PP and AA, computed by the distance formula (x−x1)2+(y−y1)2\sqrt{(x-x_1)^2+(y-y_1)^2}. This single geometric fact converts modulus conditions on zz directly into familiar Cartesian curves. If ∣z−z1∣=a|z-z_1|=a for a fixed positive constant aa, every point zz satisfying it sits at the fixed distance aa from z1z_1, so the locus is a circle centred at z1z_1 with radius aa — squaring both sides gives the Cartesian equation (x−x1)2+(y−y1)2=a2(x-x_1)^2+(y-y_1)^2=a^2 directly. If instead ∣z−z1∣=∣z−z2∣|z-z_1|=|z-z_2| for two fixed points z1,z2z_1,z_2, every point zz is equidistant from both, so the locus is the perpendicular bisector of the segment joining z1z_1 and z2z_2 — expanding both sides of (x−x1)2+(y−y1)2=(x−x2)2+(y−y2)2(x-x_1)^2+(y-y_1)^2=(x-x_2)^2+(y-y_2)^2 and cancelling the squared terms leaves a linear equation, i.e. a straight line. These two cases (circle and perpendicular bisector) are the two standard locus types built from modulus conditions, and they are proved by translating the modulus/distance statement into coordinates and simplifying algebraically, exactly …

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