LECTURE No.

ELEMENTS OF THREE DIMENSIONAL GEOMETRY

Distance formula in three dimensions

Let P ( x1 , y1 , z1 ) and Q( x2 , y2 , z2 ) be two points such that PQ is not parallel to one of the
coordinate axis Then PQ  ( x2  x1 ) 2  ( y2  y1 ) 2  ( z2  z1 ) 2 Which is known as
Distance fromula between the points P and Q.

Example of distance formula

Let us consider the points A( 3, 2, 4 ), B( 6, 10,  1) and C (9, 4, 1 ), then
AB  (6  3) 2  (10  2) 2  ( 1  4) 2  98  7 2
AC  (9  3) 2  ( 4  2) 2  (1  4) 2  49  7
BC  (9  6) 2  ( 4  10) 2  (1  1) 2  49  7

Mid point of two points

Let P ( x1 , y1 , z1 ) and Q( x2 , y2 , z2 ) be two points. If R( x, y, z ) is the middle point of the
line segment PQ , then the coordinates of the middle point R( x, y, z ) are given below:
x +x y +y z +z
x= 1 2 , y= 1 2 , z= 1 2
2 2 2
Example 2: Let us consider two points A( 3, 2, 4 ) and B( 6, 10,  1) , then the coordinates
 3+6 2+10 4  1  9 3
of mid point of AB are  , ,  =  , 6, 
 2 2 2  2 2
Given a point, finding its Direction Cosines

Direction Angles
The direction angles  ,  ,  of a line is defined as
  Angle between line and the positive x-axis
  Angle between line and the positive y-axis
  Angle between line and the positive z-axis
By definition, each of these angles lie between 0 and  .
Direction Ratios: Cosines of direction angles are called direction cosines. Any multiple
of direction cosines are called direction numbers or direction ratios of the line L.

Direction angles of a Line

The angles which a line makes with positive x, y and z-axis are known as Direction
Angles. In the above figure, the blue line has direction angles as  ,  and  which are the
angles which blue line makes with x, y and z-axes respectively.

Direction Cosines
Now if we take the cosine of the Direction Angles of a line, then we get the Direction
cosines of that line. So the Direction Cosines of the above line are given by
x x y y z z
cos    , cos    , cos   
OP x y z
2 2 2 OP x y z
2 2 2 OP x  y2  z2
2

Since, by distance formula, OP   x  0   y  0  z  0  x 2  y 2  z 2

2 2 2

Squaring and adding these equations (1), (2) and (3), we get
2 2 2
 x   y   z 
cos 2   cos 2   cos 2        
 x2  y2  z 2   x2  y 2  z 2   x2  y 2  z 2 
     
x2  y 2  z 2 x y z
2 2 2
  2 1
  x  y2  z2
2
x2  y 2  z 2

cos 2   cos 2   cos 2   1

Direction cosines and direction ratios of a line joining two points
For a line joining two points P  x1 , y1 , z1  and Q  x2 , y2 , z2  ,
the direction ratios are x 2 - x 1 , y 2 - y 1 and z 2 - z 1
x x y y z z
and the directions cosines are 2 1 , 2 1 and 2 1 .
PQ PQ PQ
Example 3: Find direction cosines and direction ratios for a line joining two points
P 1, 3, 2  and Q  7 , 2, 3 .
Solution: For a line joining two points P 1, 3, 2  and Q  7 , 2, 3 , the direction ratios are
x2 - x1  7  1  6, y2 - y1   2  3   5, z2 - z 1  3  2  1
and the directions cosines are
6 5 1
, ,
62   5   12 62   5   12 62   5   12
2 2 2

6 5 1
, ,
62 62 62
Intersection of two surfaces
•Intersection of two surfaces is a curve in three dimensional space.
•It is the reason that a curve in three dimensional space is represented by two equations
representing the intersecting surfaces.
Intersection of Cone and Sphere

Intersection of Two Planes

If the two planes are not parallel, then they intersect and their intersection is a straight
line. Thus, two non-parallel planes represent a straight line given by two simultaneous
linear equations in x, y and z and are known as non-symmetric form of equations of a
straight line.
 REGION DESCRIPTION EQUATION

xy-plane Consists of all points of the form (x, y, 0) z=0

xz-plane Consists of all points of the form (x, 0, z) y=0

yz-plane Consists of all points of the form (0, y, z) x=0

x-axis Consists of all points of the form (x, 0, 0) y = 0, z = 0

y-axis Consists of all points of the form (0, y, 0) z = 0, x = 0

z-axis Consists of all points of the form (0, 0, z) x = 0, y = 0

Planes parallel to Coordinate Planes

General Equation of Plane

Any equation of the form ax + by + cz + d = 0 represents a plane, where
a, b, c, d are real numbers.
Sphere
Right Circular Cone

Horizontal Circular Cylinder

Horizontal Elliptic Cylinder

Overview of Lecture # 3

Chapter # 14
Three Dimensional Space
Page # 657

Book CALCULUS by HOWARD ANTON

 LECTURE No.4

POLAR COORDINATES
Outlines of the lecture:

o Spherical Polar Coordinate

o Cylindrical Polar Coordinate

You know that position of any point in the plane can be obtained by the two
perpendicular lines known as x and y axes and together we call it as Cartesian
coordinates for plane. Beside this coordinate system, we have another coordinate system
which can also be used for obtaining the position of any point in the plane. It is called
Polar coordinate system. In this coordinate system, we represent position of each particle
in the plane by r and  where r the distance from a fixed point known as pole is O and 
is the measure of the angle.

 
Conversion formula from polar to Cartesian coordinates and vice versa

P(x, y) =P(r,  )

r
y

x

Now we convert the polar coordinates P( r,  ) to Cartesian coordinates P( x, y ) .

From above diagram and remembering the trigonometric ratios we can write
x
 cos   x = r cos     (1)
r
x
 sin   y = r sin     (2)
r
The equations (1) and (2) are used to convert the polar coordinates P( r,  ) to Cartesian
coordinates P( x, y ). Now we convert the Cartesian coordinates P( x, y ) into polar
coordinates P( r,  ). Squaring equations (1) and (2), and adding them, we get,
x 2 + y 2 =  r cos     r sin    r 2  cos 2   sin 2  
2 2

x2 + y 2  r 2 or r  x2 + y2     (3)
Dividing equation (2) by equation (1), we get
 y
= tan      ( 4)
x
The equations (3) and (4) are used to convert the Cartesian coordinates P( x, y ) to polar
coordinates P( r,  ).
Rectangular coordinates for three dimensions: Since you know that the position of
any point in the three dimensions can be obtained by the three mutually perpendicular
lines known as x, y and z – axes and also shown in figure below. These coordinate axes
are known as Rectangular coordinate system.

Cylindrical Coordinates: Beside the Rectangular coordinate system, we have another

coordinate system which is used for getting the position of the any particle in space,
known as the cylindrical coordinate system as shown in the figure below.

 
Spherical Coordinates: Beside the Rectangular and Cylindrical coordinate systems, we
have another coordinate system which is used for getting the position of the any particle
in space, known as the spherical coordinate system as shown in the figure below.