Midterm Exam I Practice

MATHUN1201

Wenjian Liu
October 02, 2024

Name: Section: Date:

This test is designed to be completed without notes or books. Please answer the questions
in the spaces provided on the question sheets. If you run out of room for an answer, continue
on the back of the page. To receive full credit, you must justify all the steps in your
calculation. Please place a box around your final answer. Please write your name.
Good luck!

Question Points Score

1 10
2 10
3 10
4 10
5 10
Total: 50

1
1. (10 points) Find an equation of the set of all points equidistant from the points A(−1, 5, 3) and B(6, 2, −2).
Describe the set.

Solution: We need to find a set of points {P (x, y, z) | |AP | = |BP |}. By distance formula,
p p
|AP | = (x + 1)2 + (y − 5)2 + (z − 3)2 and |BP | = (x − 6)2 + (y − 2)2 + (z + 2)2

It follows from |AP | = |BP | that

p p
(x + 1)2 + (y − 5)2 + (z − 3)2 = (x − 6)2 + (y − 2)2 + (z + 2)2
⇒ (x + 1)2 + (y − 5)2 + (z − 3)2 = (x − 6)2 + (y − 2)2 + (z + 2)2
⇒ x2 + 2x + 1 + y 2 − 10y + 25 + z 2 − 6z + 9 = x2 − 12x + 36 + y 2 − 4y + 4 + z 2 + 4z + 4
⇒ 14x − 6y − 10z = 9

Thus, the set of points is a plane 14x − 6y − 10z = 9. Actually, this plane is perpendicular to the
line segment joining A and B, since this plane must contain the perpendicular bisector of the line
segment AB.

2. (10 points) Given three points on R3

P (−2, 0, 4), Q(1, 3, −2), R(0, 3, 5)

(a) find a nonzero vector orthogonal to the plane through the points P , Q, and R;
(b) find the area of triangle ∆P QR.

−−→ −→
Solution: (a) Because the plane through P , Q, and R contains the vectors P Q and P R, a vector
orthogonal to these vectors (such as their cross product) is also orthogonal to the plane.
−−→ −→
P Q = h3, 3, −6i and P R = h2, 3, 1i,

so
−−→ −→
P Q × P R = h(3)(1) − (−6)(3), (−6)(2) − (3)(1), (3)(3) − (3)(2)i = h21, −15, 3i.
Therefore, h21, −15, 3i (or any nonzero scalar multiple) is orthogonal to the plane through P , Q,
and R.

(b) The area of the triangle determined by P , Q, and R is equal to half the area of the parallelogram
determined by the three points. Using part (a), the area of the parallelogram is
−−→ −→ p √ √
|P Q × P R| = |h21, −15, 3i| = 212 + (−15)2 + 32 = 675 = 15 3.
√
15 3
So the area of triangle ∆P QR is 2 .

3. (10 points) Given two planes x + y + z = 1 and x − 2y + 3z = 1,

(a) find the angle between these two planes;

(b) find symmetric equations for the line of intersection L of these two planes.

2
 Solution:

(a) The normal vectors of these planes are

n1 = h1, 1, 1i n2 = h1, −2, 3i

and so, if θ is the angle between the planes, we have

n1 · n2 1(1) + 1(−2) + 1(3) 2

cos θ = =√ √ =√
|n1 | |n2 | 1+1+1 1+4+9 42
 
2
θ = cos−1 √ ≈ 72◦
42

(b) We first need to find a point on L. For instance, we can find the point where the line intersects
the xy-plane by setting z = 0 in the equations of both planes. This gives the equations x + y = 1
and x − 2y = 1, whose solution is x = 1, y = 0. So the point (1, 0, 0) lies on L.
Now we observe that, since L lies in both planes, it is perpendicular to both of the normal
vectors. Thus a vector v parallel to L is given by the cross product

i j k
v = n1 × n2 = 1 1 1 = 5i − 2j − 3k
1 −2 3

and so the symmetric equations of L can be written as

x−1 y z
= =
5 −2 −3

4. (10 points) Find an equation of the plane that passes through the point (3, 1, 4) and contains the line
of intersection of the planes x + 2y + 3z = 1 and 2x − y + z = −3.

Solution: Normal vectors for the given planes are n1 = h1, 2, 3i and n2 = h2, −1, 1i. A direction
vector, then, for the line of intersection is
i j k
a = n1 × n2 = 1 2 3 = h2 + 3, 6 − 1, −1 − 4i = h5, 5, −5i
2 −1 1
Note that a is parallel to the desired plane.
Another vector parallel to the plane is the vector connecting any point on the line of intersection to
the given point (3, 1, 4) in the plane. Setting z = 0, the equations of the planes reduce to x + 2y = 1
and 2x − y = −3 with simultaneous solution x = −1 and y = 1. So a point on the line is (−1, 1, 0)
and another vector parallel to the plane is
b = h3 − (−1), 1 − 1, 4 − 0i = h4, 0, 4i
Then a normal vector to the plane is
i j k
n=a×b= 5 5 −5 = h20 − 0, −20 − 20, 0 − 20i = h20, −40, −20i = 20h1, −2, −1i
4 0 4

3
 Equivalently, we can take h1, −2, −1i as a normal vector, and an equation of the plane is

1(x − 3) − 2(y − 1) − 1(z − 4) = 0,

that is
x − 2y − z = −3

5. (10 points) Let L1 be the line through the origin and (2, 0, −1). Let L2 be the line through the points
(1, −1, 1) and (4, 1, 3). Find the distance between L1 and L2 .

Solution: Direction vectors of the two lines are

v1 = h2, 0, −1i, v2 = h3, 2, 2i

Then
n = v1 × v2 = h2, 7, −4i
is perpendicular to both lines. Pick any point on each of the lines, say (0, 0, 0) and (1, −1, 1), and
form the vector b = h1, −1, 1i connecting the two points. Then the distance between the two skew
lines is the absolute value of the scalar projection of b along n, that is,

|n · b| 2+7+4 13
D= =√ =√
|n| 4 + 49 + 16 69