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MATH 211
Wize Linear
Algebra
Textbook
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Equations of Lines and

Planes
01 Lines in Rn
Lines in Rn

Lines in Rn

Vector Form

A line in Rn can be described by

● a point on the line, and

● a vector parallel to the line called a direction vector.

Let P be a known point on the line, d ∈ Rn be a direction vector, and t ∈ R be a parameter.

Then every vector x = ⟨x1 , x2 , … , xn ⟩ on the line can be described in vector form (or point-
parallel form) by:

x  =  P + td

Geometrically

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Parametric Form

We can break up the vector form into separate parametric equations.

Example: R2

● Known point on the line: P (x1 , y1 )

● Direction vector: d = ⟨d1 , d2 ⟩

x = P + td
⇓

{
x = x1 + td1
y = y1 + td2

Symmetric Form

Solving for the parameter for each parametric equation and equating the solutions, we obtain the
symmetric form of a line:

x − x1 y − y1 z − z1
=    ( = = …)
d1 d2 d3

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Two-Point Form

We can also describe a line using just two points.

Given points P and Q on the line, we may write the line as:

x = (1 − t) P + tQ

Show that this is equivalent to vector form with d = PQ.

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Lines in R2

Lines in R2 have some special forms, whereas these forms describe hyperplanes more generally in
Rn .

Point-Normal Form

Given a point on the line P (x1 , y1 ) and a normal (orthogonal) vector n = ⟨a, b⟩:

n ⋅ (x − P ) = 0

WIZ E CO NCEPT

Recall: given a direction vector [ ] ∈ R2 , we can "switch and flip" to find an

a
b
orthogonal vector: [ ]
b
−a

Standard Form

Given a point on the line P (x1 , y1 ) and a normal vector n = ⟨a, b⟩, and with c = n ⋅ P :

ax + by = c

Show that point-normal form is equivalent to standard form.

WIZ E T IP

● Two lines are parallel if their direction vectors are parallel: d1 = k d2

● Two lines coincide (same line) if they are parallel and they share one point

● Two lines are orthogonal if their direction vectors are orthogonal: d1 ⋅ d2 = 0

Example Problem: Example

Example: Lines in Rn

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Find the vector form, parametric form, and two-point form of the line that passes through the
points A (−2, 5, 8 ) and B (−1, −1, 3 ) .

Example Problem

Example: Lines in R2
Find the point-normal and standard form equations of the line that passes through the point
P (11, 0) and is parallel to the line with parametric equations:

x = −3t, y =2−t

Practice Questions
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02 Planes in R3
Equations of Planes in R3

Planes in R3
A plane is an infinite flat surface in 3D space.

Planes can be described using various pieces of information:

● A point on the plane and a normal vector (orthogonal to the plane)

● Two lines on the plane

● Three points on the plane

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Point-Normal Form

A plane in R3 can be described in point-normal form (or vector form) using one point on the
plane, and one normal vector.

Given a known point on the plane P (x1 , y1 , z1 ) and a normal vector n = (a, b, c):

n ⋅ (x − P ) = 0

⟹ a(x − x1 ) + b(y − y1 ) + c(z − z1 ) = 0

Standard Form

Simplifying the point-normal form gives the standard form (or scalar form) of a plane in R3 ,
using d = n⋅ P:

ax + by + cz = d

Geometrically

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Parametric Form

Given a point on the plane P , and two non-collinear vectors in the plane d1 ,  d2 , we may
introduce two parameters, s , t ∈ R:

X = P + s d1 + t d2

Geometrically

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Given Two Lines on the Plane

Steps

1. Find the normal vector n = d1 × d2 where d1 ,  d2 are the direction vectors of the lines.

2. Find any point P on one of the lines (this is a known point on the plane).

3. Use n and P to write the equation of the plane in point-normal form or standard form,
or use P and d1 ,  d2 to write the plane in parametric form.

Given Three Points on the Plane

Knowing three points P , Q, R that lie in the plane allows us to find two lines on the plane, so we
can proceed as above.

Steps

1. Find direction vectors in the plane: for example, let d = PQ and d2 = PR .

1

2. Find the normal vector n = d1 × d2 where d1 ,  d2 are the direction vectors of the lines.

3. Use n and P to write the equation of the plane in point-normal form or standard form,
or use P and d1 ,  d2 to write the plane in parametric form.

Example Problem

Example: Planes in R3
Find the equation of the plane with the normal vector ⟨3, 1, −1⟩ that passes through point
P (0, 2, 1).

Point-Normal Form

n ⋅ (x − P ) = 0

Standard form

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ax + by + cz = d where n = ⟨a, b, c⟩ and d = n ⋅ P

Example Problem

Example: Planes in R3
Find the parametric, point-normal, and standard form equations of the plane containing the
points A(−6, −3, −1) , B(0, 0, −5) , and C(−9, −3, 0) .

Practice Questions
Check out 3 practice problems on wizeprep.com

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03 Hyperplanes
Hyperplanes
Hyperplanes are objects of dimension n − 1 in Rn that are able to split the space into two half-
spaces.

● Lines (1D objects) are hyperplanes in R2

Example: x=1

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● Planes (2D objects) are hyperplanes in R3

Example: x = 1

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Point-Normal Form

x = ⟨x1 , x2 , … , xn ⟩ appears along with a known point on

A general point on the hyperplane
the hyperplane, P , and a normal vector n = ⟨a1 , a2 , … , an ⟩ :

n  ⋅  (x − P ) = 0

Standard Form

As before, we use a normal vector n = ⟨a1 , a2 , … , an ⟩ and a point on the hyperplane P to

compute d =n⋅P :

a1 x 1 + a2 x 2 + ⋯ + an x n = d

WIZ E T IP

An equation in standard form always represents a hyperplane in Rn .

Example Problem

Example: Hyperplanes
Find the standard form equation for the hyperplane in R5 with normal vector ⟨1, −1, 0, 3, 2⟩ and
containing the point P (4, −2, 1, 0, −1).

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Practice Questions
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04 Distances
Distances
Distance Between a Point and a Line

To calculate the shortest distance between a point and a line we use the perpendicular perp
(based on the projection proj).

Given a point Q(q 1 , q 2 , … , q n ) and a line in vector form l :  x = P + t d, the distance from
point Q to line l is given by:

∥ ∥
distance(Q, l) = perp  PQ
∥ d ∥

Steps

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1. Find the vector PQ = Q − P

2. Find the projection of PQ onto the line's direction vector d:

proj  PQ  =  ( )d
PQ ⋅ d
d d⋅d

3. Find the perpendicular vector:

perp  PQ  =  PQ − proj  PQ

d d

4. The shortest distance from point Q to line l is the norm of the perpendicular:
∥ ∥
distance(Q, l) = perp PQ
∥ d ∥

WIZ E T IP

These same steps can be used to find the shortest distance between a line and a

second parallel line:

→ Choose any point on the second line and call it Q.

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Geometrically

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Distance Between a Point and a Hyperplane

We use a slightly different method to find the shortest distance between a point and a hyperplane in
Rn .

Given a point Q(q 1 , q 2 , … , q n ) and a plane in standard form Π :  a1 x1 + a2 x2 + ⋯ +

an xn = b, the distance from point Q to plane Π is given by:

distance(Q, Π) = ∥projn  PQ∥

Steps

1. Find any point P on the plane (it's often easiest to let all but one component be 0 and solve
for the third).

2. Find the vector PQ = Q − P

3. Find the projection of PQ onto the hyperplane's normal vector n = ⟨a1 , a2 , … , an ⟩ :

projn  PQ  =  ( )n
PQ ⋅ n
n⋅n

4. The shortest distance from point Q to hyperplane Π is the norm of the projection:
∥ ∥
distance(Q, Π) = projn  PQ
∥ ∥

WIZ E T IP

These same steps can be used to find the distance between a plane and:

● a parallel line, or
● a second parallel plane

→ Choose any point on the line or second plane and call it Q.

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Geometrically

Example Problem: Example

Example: Distance Between Parallel Lines

Find the shortest distance between the parallel lines:

l1 :  ⟨x, y, z⟩ = ⟨4, 11, 5⟩ + t⟨1, 1, −2⟩

l2 :  ⟨x, y, z⟩ = ⟨0, 9, 8⟩ + s⟨−1, −1, 2⟩

WAT CH O UT !

We may use the method of finding the distance between a point and a line.
This only works for finding the distance between two lines when they are
parallel/collinear.

Example Problem: Example

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Example: Distance Between a Point and a Plane

Find the shortest distance between the plane Π :  x − 3y − z = −6 and the point A(1, 1, 2).

Practice Questions
Check out 2 practice problems on wizeprep.com

05 Intersection of Two Lines

Intersection of Two Lines

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Possible Intersection Scenarios

● Lines are coincident (same line)

They are parallel and intersect (share one point) ⟹ infinitely many points of
intersection

● Lines are parallel but do not intersect ⟹ zero points of intersection

● Lines are skew[R3  and higher ONLY]

They are not parallel but they do not intersect ⟹ zero points of intersection

● Lines are not parallel and they intersect ⟹ one point of intersection

Table Summary

Parallel Intersect # Intersection Points

Coincident ✓ ✓ ∞
Parallel, Non-Coincident ✓ × 0
Skew [R3+ ] × × 0
Intersecting × ✓ 1

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Determining Collinearity

Two lines are parallel if they have:

● Collinear direction vectors

● Collinear normal vectors

● The direction vector of one line is orthogonal to the normal vector of the other

Determining Intersections

To determine whether two lines intersect:

1. Make sure at least one line is in parametric form (convert if needed)

2. Substitute the parametric equations into the equation of the other line

3. Solve for the parameter

4. Determine the number of intersections:

○ If you don't get a consistent result when solving for the parameter (e.g. 2 = 5)
⟹ no intersection (or skewed in R3+ )

○ If you get a single valid solution set (e.g. t = 1,  s = 0 )

⟹ one point of intersection

○ If you only get redundant equations (e.g. 0 = 0)

⟹ infinitely many points of intersection

Example Problem

Example: Intersection of Two Lines (One POI)

Find the point(s) of intersection between the lines:

l1 :  ⟨x, y⟩ = ⟨2, 1⟩ + t⟨−1, 3⟩

l2 :  x + 2y = 14

Example Problem

Example: Intersection of Two Lines (no POI)

Find the point(s) of intersection of the lines:

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l1 :  x = ⟨0, −1, 5⟩ + t⟨2, 1, −3⟩

l2 :  x = ⟨2, 0, 5⟩ + s⟨−4, −2, 6⟩

Example Problem

Example: Intersection of Two Lines (Infinite POIs)

Find the point(s) of intersection of the lines:

l1 :  x = ⟨1, −3⟩ + t⟨−1, 2⟩

l2 :  x = ⟨−1, 1⟩ + s⟨3, −6⟩

Practice Questions
Check out 2 practice problems on wizeprep.com

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06 Intersection of a Line and a Plane

Intersection of Lines and Planes

Case 1: Infinitely Many POIs

The line lies on the plane ⟹ all points on the line are on the plane.

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Case 2: No POIs

The line lies on a different parallel plane ⟹ no points of intersection

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Case 3: One POI

● The line does not lie on any parallel plane ⟹ one point of intersection

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Steps to Find Point(s) of Intersection

1. Substitute the line's parametric equations into the standard form of the plane

2. Solve for the parameter:

● A single valid solution ⟹ one point of intersection

● No consistent solution ⟹ no intersection (line is on a different, parallel plane)

● Redundant equations ⟹ infinitely many points of intersection (line lies on the plane)

3. If there is a valid solution, substitute the value of the parameter back into the equation of the line
to find the point of intersection.

Example Problem

Example: Intersection of Line and Plane

Find the point of intersection between the line and the plane:

l :  x = ⟨1, 1, 0⟩ + t⟨2, −1, 3⟩

Π :  2x + 3y−z = 9

Example Problem: Example

Example: Closest Point on a Plane

Find the point on the plane Π :  x − 3y = 12 that is closest to the point A(11, −2, 3).

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Practice Questions
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