Condition that a homogeneous second degree equation in three variables representing a cone.

3dlinear algebraorthogonal matricesquadratic-formsquadrics

In my geometry course,we are told that a homogeneous equation of $2$nd degree in $x,y,z$ i.e. $ax^2+by^2+cz^2+2fyz+2gzx+2hxy=0$ will represent a cone with vertex at the origin iff the determinant $$
\begin{vmatrix}
a & h & g \\
h & b & f \\
g & f & c \\
\end{vmatrix}
$$
is non zero.But if I take the homogeneous equation $x^2+y^2+z^2=0$,then the LHS is positive definite so $x=y=z=0$ is the only solution.So how can it represent a cone,even though the determinant $$
\begin{vmatrix}
1 & 0 & 0 \\
0 & 1 & 0 \\
0 & 0 & 1 \\
\end{vmatrix}
$$
is non zero,the equation is not representing a cone.Please someone help me to clear my doubts about it.
Please see the following attachment for reference (from analytical geometry by Shanti Narayan)
enter image description here

Best Answer

This assertion is false because taking $a=1,b=1,c=1,h=0,f=0$ we have

$$ M = \left( \begin{array}{ccc} 1 & 0 & g \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ g & 0 & 1 \\ \end{array} \right) $$

with $\det M = 1-g^2$ and we have a cone representation only for $|g| > 1$

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