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011 3D Geometry Part 1 Points and Lines

Basic geometry. Word document.

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Linus Mahogany Spost
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28 views6 pages

011 3D Geometry Part 1 Points and Lines

Basic geometry. Word document.

Uploaded by

Linus Mahogany Spost
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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11.

3D Geometry 1 Lines

The Vector Equation of a Line

Recall that the unit vectors i, j, and k can be used to locate any point in 3D space

So for instance, the position vector of point can be described as 6i +4j +9k.

No two different lines both pass through the same point and have the same direction.
Therefore, the vector equation of a line in 3D space is defined by
1. The position vector of a point that it goes through
2. A vector in the same direction as the line

In the diagram, the line goes through the point with position vector
7i +4j +5k and is parallel to direction vector 6i +2j +k. the direction vector could be
any magnitude, as long as the direction remains the same, so e.g. 2  (6i +2j +k) =
12i +4j +2k would do just as well. So we say that some multiple   (6i +2j +k)
describes the direction of the line.

The vector equation of the line is a vector sum r, where

1
r = 7i +4j +5k + (6i +2j +k)

and this could be read, “r is a vector describing a line that goes through point 7i +4j
+5k in direction 6i +2j +k ”.

Parallel lines will some multiple of the same direction vector- but this might not be
obvious. Remember that 12i +4j +2k has the same direction as 6i +2j +k, even though
it’s a bigger vector. A nice solution is to use the unit vector in the same direction.
Divide any vector by its magnitude to get the unit vector, e.g.

If we do the same for a multiple of this, we find the unit vector to be the same;

So the final form of the vector equation for the line is


.

If we let
,
we can write r more concisely as
,

which form will be useful for the following.

Exercise 1.

What is the vector equation of the line through


a) the point r = 8i +8j +4k and parallel to the vector 7i +3j + 2k?
b) the point r = 6i +5j -3k and parallel to the vector 6i 3j - k?
c) the point r = -2i +5j -7k and parallel to the vector 7i 2j - 4k?

The Distance between a Point and a Line

The shortest distance between a point and a line is the perpendicular distance, that is,
the distance along the normal connecting the line to the point.

Consider the line l = x + y and the point P with vector p. Recall that x is the position
vector of a point on the line- call it point X. The distance between X and P is the
difference between the vectors,
y - p. By trigonometry, the distance d will be XPsin.

2
We don’t know the angle , but we don’t need to- we can go straight to sin using a
fact about cross products. If the angle between y and p-x is , then the modulus of the
vector y  (p-x) is |y||p-x|sin. Rewrite this to give us the sine we want;

.
So now we can work out the distance d. This gives us a formula, which I’ll put in
short and long form- the long one will be useful for the exercises.

The distance between a line l = x + y = ai +bj +ck +(di +ej +fk) and a point p = ri
+sj +tk is d,

Example 1.

What is the distance between the line r = i +2j +4k + t(-i -3j) and the point (1,3,2) with
vector i +3j +2k?

Following the formula, x = i +2j +4k, y = -i -3j and p = i +3j +2k. Find p-x straight
away;
.

So the distance d is given by

3
.

Like all cross products, this involves a bit of number-crunching.

So the distance d = 2.0248 units.

Exercise 2.

What is the distance between the line r and the point with vector p?
a) r = 8i +8j +4k+ t (-i -j –k ), p= 7i +3j + 2k?
b) r = 7i -6j +3k+ t (2i -3j +k ), p= 8i +4j + 3k?

The Distance between Two Lines

If two lines intersect, then the shortest distance between them is zero. If two lines
don’t intersect, then the shortest distance between them is along the line which is
perpendicular to them both.

In the following diagram, lines l1 = a1 +b1and l2 = a2 +b2 don’t intersect (think of


line l2 crossing above line l1).

4
If d is perpendicular to both lines, then d lies along the perpendicular to the plane of
their direction vectors. The cross product gives a vector perpendicular to the plane, so
d must have the same direction as this. So a good start is the unit vector along d. Call
this n;
.
a1 - a2 is the distance from some point S on line 1 to a point T on line 2. This must
make some angle  with d. So the distance d = |a1-a2|cos. We can get this from the
dot product of a1-a2 and n. This gives us the formula.

The shortest distance d between two lines l1 = a1 +b1and l2 = a2 +b2 that don’t
intersect is

Example 2.

What is the shortest distance between the lines i +j + (2i -j +k) and
2i +j -k +(3i -5j +2k)?

Comparing the lines to the formula,


a1 = i +j
a2 = 2i +j -k
b1 = 2i -j +k
b2 = 3i -5j +2k.

5
First work out the cross product

Now find the modulus of this,


.

And a1-a2,
.

Now put these values into the formula,

Exercise 3.
What is the shortest distance between the lines m and n?
1. m = 2i -7j + (i -2j +2k), n=2i +2j -3k +(2i +3j -3k)?
2. m = i +j + -3k +(2i -j +k), n=2i +j -k +(3i -5j +2k)?
3. m = 3i +2j + 3k +(i -3j +3k), n=3i +2j +k +(2i -7j +4k)?

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