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Math 115 Lab 1 Solutions

This document provides solutions to 10 math problems involving vectors and geometry. It gives the step-by-step workings for finding points on a line between two given points, writing a vector as the sum of two orthogonal vectors, finding distances from points to lines, determining parametric and vector equations of lines, calculating areas of triangles using vectors, and identifying whether three points form a right-angled triangle based on the dot products of vectors between the points.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
39 views2 pages

Math 115 Lab 1 Solutions

This document provides solutions to 10 math problems involving vectors and geometry. It gives the step-by-step workings for finding points on a line between two given points, writing a vector as the sum of two orthogonal vectors, finding distances from points to lines, determining parametric and vector equations of lines, calculating areas of triangles using vectors, and identifying whether three points form a right-angled triangle based on the dot products of vectors between the points.

Uploaded by

DP
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Math 115 Lab 1 Solutions

1. Find the point

1
5

of the way from P (2, 1, 5) to Q(3, 0, 4).

Solution: Let p~ = [2 1 5]T and ~q = [3 0 4]T be the position vectors of the points.
The position vector of the point

1
5

the way from p~ to ~q is

~t = p~ + 1 (~q p~) = 4 p~ + 1 ~q = 1 [11 4 24]T .


5
5
5
5
Thus, the point

1
5

4 24
of the way from P to Q is ( 11
5 , 5 , 5 ).

2. Given the vectors ~v = [3 1 2]T and d~ = [1 2 1]T , write the vector ~v as a sum ~v = ~v1 + ~v2 where ~v1 is
~
parallel to d~ and ~v2 is orthogonal to d.
Solution: Let ~v1 = projd~(~v ) =

~
v d~
2

kd~k
1
T
Then ~v2 = ~v ~v1 = 2 [5 4 3] .

d~ = 12 d~ = 12 [1 2 1]T .

3. Find the shortest distance from the point P (1, 0, 2) to the line [x y z]T = [1 1 0]T + t[2 1 1]T .

Solution: Write P0 = P0 (1, 1, 0), ~v = P0 P = [0 1 2]T and d~ = [2 1 1]T .


~
Compute ~v1 = projd~(~v ) = 21 d.

Then the shortest distance is k~v ~v1 k = 21 [2 1 3]T = 12 14.


4. Find the vector equation of the line through the points P1 (1, 0, 2) and P2 (2, 1, 1).

Solution: Now d~ = P1 P2 = [1 1 1]T , so the line is [x y z]T = [1 0 2]T + t[1 1 1]T .


5. Determine the parametric equations of the line through the point P (1, 1, 0) which is perpendicular to
the plane x + y 2z = 3.
Solution: The normal ~n = [1 1 2]T will serve as direction vector of the line (it is perpendicular to
the plane).
As P (1, 1, 0) is in the line, the parametric equations are

x=1+t
y = 1 + t
z = 2t

6. If ~v and w
~ are orthogonal vectors, show that k~v k + kwk
~ = k~v + wk
~ .
2

Solution: We have k~v + wk


~ = (~v + w)
~ (~v + w)
~ = k~v k + 2 ~v w
~ + kwk
~ .
But ~v and w
~ are orthogonal, so ~v w
~ = 0.
2

Hence k~v k + kwk


~ = k~v + wk
~ .

7. Find the point of intersection of the line [x y z]T = [2 1 3]T + t[1 1 4]T
and the plane 3x + y 2z = 4.
Solution: Every point on the line has the form [x y z]T = [2 + t 1 t 3 4t]T .
This point lies on the plane if 3(2 + t) + (1 t) 2(3 4t) = 4, which gives t = 21 .
Hence the point is [x y z]T = [ 25

3
2

1]T .

8. Find vector equation of the line through (2, 5, 0) that is parallel to the planes 2x + y 4z = 0 and
x + 2y + 1 = 0.
Solution: We need the direction vector d~ = [d1 d2 d3 ]T . Since d~ is parallel to the plane 2x + y 4z = 0,
it must be orthogonal to the normal vector of the plane [2 1 4]T .
ie. [d1 d2 d3 ]T [2 1 4]T = 0.
Also, since d~ is parallel to the plane x + 2y + 1 = 0, we have [d1 d2 d3 ]T [1 2 0]T = 0.
This gives us the equations 2d1 + d2 4d3 = 0 and d1 + 2d2 = 0. Substituting d1 = 2d2 into the
first equation, we obtain d3 = 54 d2 . There are many possible direction vectors (all parallel). We will let
d2 = 4 and so d1 = 8 and d3 = 5. So d~ = [8 4 5]T and the line passes through (2, 5, 0), so the vector
equation of the line is [x y z]T = (2, 5, 0) + [8 4 5]T .
9. Find the area of the triangle with vertices P (2, 1, 0), Q(3, 1, 1) and R(1, 0, 1).
Solution: The area of a triangle is 21 base height.
~ k as the height.
~ as the base and kQP
~ proj ~ QP
We will take kQRk
QR
p

~ = k[2 1 0]T k = (2)2 + 12 + 02 = 5 and


Now, kQRk
T
~ QR
~
QP
[2 1 0]T
4
~
~ = [1 2 1]
projQR
QR
[2 1 0]T = [2 1 0]T .
~ QP =

2
~ 2
5
kQRk
5
q
4
3
6
T
~ k = k[1 2 1]T [2 1 0]T k = k[
~ proj ~ QP
So kQP
( 35 )2 + ( 56 )2 + 12 =
QR
5
5 5 1] k =


Thus the area of the triangle is 12 5 570 = 214 .

70
5 .

10. Consider the points A(2, 2, 1), B(1, 1, 0) and C(2, 3, 3).
(a) Are these points the vertices of a right-angled triangle? Justify your answer.

Solution: We have AB = [1 1 1]T , AC = [0 1 4]T and BC = [1 2 3]T .



Hence AB BC = 0 so the angle at B is a right angle.
(b) Find the cosine of the interior angle of the triangle at vertex C.

T
T
Solution: If is the internal angle at C then,
since
CA = [0 1 4] and CB = [1 2 3] ,

CA CB
14
14 17



we have cos =
.
= 17 14 =
17
CA CB

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