Vector 2D Equations

Vector 2
Compiled by: Nyasha P. Tarakino (Trockers)
+263772978155/+263717267175
ntarakino@gmail.com
31 DECEMBER 2019
Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

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SYLLABUS (6042) REQUIREMENTS
+

 find vector and Cartesian equations of a straight
line in 3D
 find cross product of given vectors
 use cross product to find area of plane shapes
 find vector, parametric and Cartesian equations of
a plane
 find the angle between a line and a plane, two lines
and two planes
 determine whether two lines are parallel,
intersecting or skewed
 determine whether two lines intersect
 find the perpendicular distance from a point to a
straight line and the coordinates of the foot of the
perpendicular
 determine whether a line lies in, is parallel to or
 intersects a plane
  find the point of intersection of a line and a plane
  find the line of intersection of two planes
  find the perpendicular distance from a point to a
 plane
  solve problems involving lines and planes



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VECTORS IN
Definition
 A vector quantity is defined by magnitude and direction, e.g. force, velocity, acceleration.
 A vector in -space is given by a three tuple ( ), indicating the change in the ,
and directions from the origin.
 A vector v in is an ordered triple of real numbers.
 The standard basis vectors for is given by:
Vector equation of a line
 It is an equation that represents all possible points on the line.

 We describe a line in with parametric equations of the form:
; ; :
 The values , , and correspond to a point on the line (which we can see by
plugging in to the equations), while the values , ;, and correspond to the
direction the line travels in the , , and directions (respectively).
 This means that the values combine to form our direction vector! So, instead of using
three parametric equations, we combine them to form the single vector equation of a line
in : : where is a point on the line, and is a direction vector for
the line.
 Therefore, the equation is given by:
or

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 is the position vector of any point on the line
 The point can be put anywhere along the line by varying the value of .
 is called the parameter (variable scalar).
 The vector or is the position vector of a given known point on the line.
 The vector or is called the direction vector; it specifies the direction of the line or
a vector which is parallel to the plane.
 NB: To write the vector equation of a line, we need a known fixed point on
the line and a vector that is parallel to the line (direction vector).
 The arrow on , and is called the position vector of the point, b, a and r
respectively.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Write the vector equation of a line which passes through with direction vector
Solution
The equation is given by:

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Example 2
Write the vector equation of a line which passes through ( ) and parallel to the
vector .
Solution
or
Example 3
Find the vector equation for the line which passes through the points and
.
Solution
Steps
(i) Draw a picture if necessary.
(ii) Accuracy doesn’t matter!
(iii)To find the vector equation we need:
 The equation of the vector .
 One point on the line : We can choose either
or B for vector .
NB: Given : is the head and thus

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Now choosing to be the point on
The equation can also be written as:

.
Parametric equations
 The parametric equation of a line is derived from the vector equation of a line.
Definition
 The parametric equation of a line that contains the point and is parallel to the
vector is:
point on the line and a vector that is parallel to the line.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Find a parametric equation for the line which contains the point and has direction
vector .
Solution

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Thus the parametric equation is given by:
Example 2
Let be a line which passes through the points and
Find a vector which is parallel to the line . Find the vector-equation and parametric equation
of the line.
Solution
The vector parallel to the line is given by:
Now choosing to be the point on
The vector-equation of the line is given by:
The parametric equation of the line is given by:

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Cartesian equation
 The Cartesian form of the vector equation is obtained by eliminating the parameter from
the parametric equations.
 The vector equation is given by:
 Making the subject we obtain the Cartesian equation of a curve.

 The Cartesian equation is given by:
Examples
Determine the vector equation of the straight line passing through the point with position
vector and parallel to the vector, . Express the vector equation of
the straight line in standard Cartesian form.
Solution
The vector parallel to the line is given by:
The vector-equation of the line is given by:

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The parametric equation of the line is given by:
Now making the subject of the formula in all equations:
All three equations are equal to and so equal to one another, therefore the Cartesian
equation is given by:

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Follow up questions
Question 1
Determine the vector equation of the straight line passing through the two points
and
Answer:
Question 2
Determine the vector equation of the straight line passing through the two points
and
Answer:
Question 3
.Find the parametric and Cartesian equations for the line
Answer: The parametric equations are:

The Cartesian equation is given by:
Question 4
A line passes through points and .
a) Write a vector equation of the line.
b) Write parametric equations for the line.
c) Determine if the point lies on the line.
Answers
a) A vector equation is
b) The corresponding parametric equations are

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c) Substitute the coordinates of into the parametric equations and solve for .
The values are not equal, so the point does not lie on the line.
Determining whether a point lies on a line
The point is said to lie on a line when it satisfies the equation of the line, i.e. and
should give the same value of the parameter.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Determine whether the point lies on the line
Solution
Substitute the point to the LHS of the line .
Now LHS:
(i)

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Also:
(ii)
Finally:
(iii)
Since all points give the point lies on the line .
ZIMSEC NOVEMBER 2017 PAPER 2
Relative to the origin , the position vectors of points and are and respectively
Determine whether the point lies on whose equation is , where is
the parameter. [2]
Solution
Substitute the point to the LHS of the line .
Now LHS:
(i)
Also:
(ii)

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Finally:
(iii)
Since all points give different values for the point does not lie on the line
Follow Up Questions
Question 1
Show that the point does not lie on the line .
Question 2
Question 3
Determine the point lies on the line
Question 4
Show that the point lies on the line which passes through points and
.
Question 5

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Intersecting, Parallel and Skew
Lines
Parallel Lines
Let and be two lines in , with direction vectors and , respectively, and let be the
angle between and . The lines and are parallel whenever and , are parallel, i.e.
these direction vectors should be multiples or simply they are in the same ratio.
Intersecting Lines
(Perpendicular)

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Let and be two lines in , with direction vectors and , respectively, and let be the
angle between and . The lines can be perpendicular or they can just intersect at any other
angle. The lines and are perpendicular/orthogonal whenever and , are
perpendicular/orthogonal. When finding the point of intersection of two lines expressed in
vector form, we equate both vectors, and , and then find the values of the parameters using
any two equations. They should satisfy the other (third) equation.
Skew Lines
Two lines in are skew if they are not parallel and do not intersect.
Note: Skew lines lie in parallel planes.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Show that the lines and
intersect. Also, find their point of intersection.
Solution
Two lines intersect if

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To check if the values of and are true, we substitute them in
LHS:
RHS:
Since .
To find the point of intersection, we substitute or .
The point of intersection is
Example 2
Show that the lines and are parallel to each
other.
Solution
We write in vector form.
Now the direction vector of is and of is .
and , then are parallel since .
Example 3

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Show that lines and are skew.
Solution
Write the equation in parametric form.
1
The lines are not parallel since the vectors and are
not parallel. Next we try to find intersection point by equating
gives . Substituting into gives .

Then . However, this contradicts with . So there is no solution for and . Since
the two lines are neither parallel nor intersecting, they are skew lines.
Example 4
If the lines : and : are parallel, find
the values of and .
Solution
Comparing and components:
Now to find let’s compare components first to get the ratio:

Since direction vectors are multiples, let be the ratio:

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When :
Now comparing components:
When :
Now comparing components:
.
When , and when , .
Follow up questions
Question 1
Show that the lines ;
are intersecting. Hence, find their point of intersection.
Answer:
Question 2
Determine whether the lines and
are parallel, perpendicular or skewed to each other.

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Question 3
Show that the lines and intersect.
Also find their point of intersection.
Answer:
Question 4
Show that the lines and intersect. Also, find their
point of intersection.
Answer:
Dot Product
It is also called a scalar product. It is a result of multiplying one vector by a second vector so
as to produce a scalar.
Algebraic Definition
The dot product vectors and in is defined to be

the scalar
.
Geometric Definition
The dot product vectors and in is defined to be

the scalar
where is the angle between the vectors and .

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Proposition
Let and be non-zero vectors. The vectors, and , are perpendicular to each other if and
only if .
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Given that the vectors and , find the dot product of and
Solution
.
Example 2
Determine if the vectors and are perpendicular to each other.
Solution
Since therefore and , are perpendicular to each.
Determinants of Matrices
DETERMINANTS – MATRICES
Suppose is any Matrix such that then the determinant of can be

DIVISIBILITY
written as:

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or det or
WORKED EXAMPLE
Given that and ;find the determinant of and the

determinant of
Solution
(i)
(ii)
DETERMINANTS – MATRICES
Suppose is any Matrix such that then the determinant of can be
written as or det or
DIVISIBILITY
WORKED EXAMPLE

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Given that ; find the determinant of .
Solution
Cross Product
The cross product of two vectors makes a perpendicular vector which is perpendicular to both
of them. This vector called the normal vector ( ).

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Geometric definition
Given vectors and in the cross product can also

be defined as follows
where:
is a unit vector which is perpendicular to the plane containing and , determined by the
right-hand-rule. i.e. place your right hand on and curl it towards , now points in the
direction of your thumb.
Algebraic definition
Given vectors and in the cross product can

also be defined as follows:
where , are unit vectors along the axes

respectively. However while calculating the determinant they only have symbolic value.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
(a) The cross product operates on vectors and produces a new vector.
(b) The two important properties of cross products are:
 The direction of the cross product is perpendicular to both and In
particular it points in the direction of your thumb if the fingers of your right hand
curl from to .
 The magnitude of is given by if is the angle between
and It is the area of the parallelogram determined by and

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WORKED EXAMPLE
Consider the two vectors and in .

Find
(a) the cross-product of the two vectors,
(b) verify that it is indeed perpendicular to both and ,
(c) the magnitude of .’
Solution
(b)
Since both the dot products are zero, we can conclude that is perpendicular to both
and .
(c) The magnitude of is given b:
Follow up questions

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Question 1
Consider the two vectors and in . Find the cross-product
of the two vectors.
Answer:
Question 2
Find the cross-product of the two vectors and
Answer:
Using cross product to find area of

plane shapes
Area of parallelogram
The area of a parallelogram with edges and is:
where
NB: are non-zero vectors and they are parallel.

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Area of triangle
The area of triangle is twice the area of parallelogram.
WORKED EXAMPLE
Find the area of the parallelogram with edges and .
Suggestion
The area of the parallelogram with edges and is the magnitude of the vector .
Follow up questions
Question 1

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Find the area of the parallelogram with edges and in .
Answer:
Question 2
Find the area of the parallelogram with edges and in .
Answer:
Question 3
Show that the area of the triangle with edges , and is .
Question 4
Show that the area of the parallelogram with edges , , and
is .
The perpendicular distance from a

point to a straight line
The scalar product plays a crucial role when determining the distance between a point and a
line.
Steps
 First we need to find the coordinates of
 Find vector

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 Since lies on the line , let the value of the scalar or any other letter which
different from the original scalar in the equation.
 In relation to the origin find
 Find the dot product between and the direction vector of the line to find the value
of .
 Substitute that value into and .
 Calculate the required modulus.
NB: To find the coordinates of the foot of the perpendicular we simply substitute the value
of into
The perpendicular distance from the origin to a straight line
Steps
 Let point be the foot of the perpendicular from .
 Rewrite the vector equation as
 State that vector
 Since is perpendicular to , find the value of the scalar by equating the dot product
between and the direction vector of the line to zero as follows:
 Substitute this numerical value of in to find the coordinates of the
foot of the perpendicular

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 To find the required distance then find the magnitude of as follows:
NB: (i) Remember that when evaluating , you should have replaced by its numerical
value.
(ii) The perpendicular distance is also called the shortest distance.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Find
a) the coordinates of the foot of the perpendicular
b) the shortest distance from the point to the line with equation
Solution
a) Finding the coordinates of :
Let
Finding vector

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Since is perpendicular to line then:
To find the coordinates of the foot of the perpendicular we simply substitute the value of
into .
the coordinates are .
b) Substituting into .
Example 2
The line has the equation , where is a parameter.
Find the perpendicular distance from the origin to .
Suggested Solution

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Let point be the foot of the perpendicular from .
The coordinates of are

Now
Now
Now substituting into
Now

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Follow Up Questions
Question 1
Find
Answers: a) . b)
Question 2
Find
Answers: a) . b)
Question 3
Find
Answers: a) . b)

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Question 4
Find
b) the shortest distance from the origin to the line with equation
Answers: a) . b)
The angle between two lines
Line 1 Line 2
 The angle between the two lines is calculated using the fact that the dot product of vectors
and is equal the product of the magnitude of vector and magnitude of vector and
cosine of angle . This implies that

 This implies that:
 Therefore, if is the acute angle between the lines and

then is given by:

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NOTE
When the calculated angle is obtuse and the required angle is acute then to find
the acute angle we simply subtract the obtuse angle from
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example
Find the angle between the skew lines – and
– .
Solution
The vector is parallel to line and is parallel to line . The
angle between the lines is equal to the angle between the vectors and . Let be this
angle.

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Example
Find the acute angle between the line with equation and the line with
equation are parameters.
Suggested Solution
Follow Up Questions
Question 1

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Find the angle between the line with equation and the line with equation
are parameters.
Answer:
Question 2
are parameters.
Answer:
Question 3
Find the angle between the line with equation and the line with
equation are parameters.
Answer:
Question 4
are parameters.
Answer:

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PLANES IN
Definition
A plane can be thought of as the collection of all lines perpendicular/orthogonal to a given
line. It is a flat surface without any thickness which extends without ends which contains
infinitely many lines. A plane has infinite points on its surface
Labelling a plane
Planes can be named using any three non-collinear points which are called coplanar points.
For example the plane above is called Plane (The order is not important).
Planes can also be named using any letters or symbols. For example the plane above is called
Plane .
Equation of a Plane
There is infinite number of vectors in the plane (See diagram below).

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A non-zero vector or , called the normal vector, and it is perpendicular/ orthogonal to all
vectors in the plane or simply it perpendicular/ orthogonal to the plane. NB: Taking the dot
product of and any other vector yields a zero because they are perpendicular/ orthogonal to
each other.
The equation of a plane is based on this dot- product
Requirements
Let:
- Any generic/arbitrary point on a plane
- Any specific point on a place
- The vector which is perpendicular/ orthogonal to the plane

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 If point lies in the plane and vector is normal to the
plane (i.e., orthogonal/perpendicular to every line in the plane) and if point
is an arbitrary point in the plane, then let:
and
Now vector .
Note
(i) is orthogonal/perpendicular to ,
(ii)
Now:
Let since it is just a constant
or since

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Important Notes
 Therefore the Cartesian equation of a plane in has the form: ,
where not all of , , and can be zero.
 The vector equation of a Plane is
 The Vector equation of any plane that passes through the intersection of planes
and is , where is any
non-zero constant.
 The Cartesian equation of any plane that passes through the intersection of two planes
and is
.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Find the equation of the plane through the point with normal vector
.
Solution
The equation of the plane is
Example 2
Find the equation of the plane with normal vector, containing the point
Solution
From the above, the equation of this plane is

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Example 3
Find the equation of the plane consisting of all points that are equidistant from and
.
Solution
Let and .
The equation of this plane is

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The Plane which contains three non-collinear points
 Sometimes you need to find the equation of a plane which contains three points. Consider
the following picture.
A B
( , , ) ( , , )
METHOD 1
STEPS
 We choose any point to make the centre and find two vectors produced. In this case we
make the centre and find and .
 We have to find the normal and it is obtained by taking where
and

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NB: is the cross product between vectors and .
 Then the equation is given by:

since is perpendicular to .
where the point is an arbitrary point in the plane.

 This can be simplified to:
where is the cross product.
METHOD 2
STEPS
(i) Then the equation is given by

(ii) Find the value of the constants and
(iii)Replace these value in
WORKED EXAMPLE
Example
Find the equation of the plane containing the points , and
Solution
First we must find a vector orthogonal to the plane containing the three points.
Let and let then using the cross
product we have a vector perpendicular to the plane.

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The equation of the plane is
Alternatively
, and
and let
Now using
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
Solving the above equations simultaneously:
eqn(ii) eqn(i)

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eqn(ii) eqn(iii)
Now substituting eqn(iv) and eqn(v) into eqn(i)
(i)

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The Plane which contains four non-collinear points
 Sometimes you need to find the equation of a plane which contains four points. Consider
the following picture.
B( , , )
A( , , )
NOTE
The cross of any two vectors in the plane gives the normal vector of the plane.
STEPS
 Lets choose any two vectors in the plane:
and
 Let’s find the normal vector by taking the cross of any two vectors in the plane
NB: is the cross product between vectors and .
 Then the equation is given by:

since is any point in the plane and is
perpendicular to .

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where the point is an arbitrary point in the plane.
WORKED EXAMPLE
Example
Find the equation of the plane containing the points , , and
Suggested Solution
Now the equation of the plane is
For we choose any point but for simplicity reasons let us consider .

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(Vector form) OR
or . (Cartesian form)
The Plane which contains a point and a line
Line l
If a point is in the plane and a line of the form , the we can find the equation
of the plane using the following method:
STEPS
 Since the line contains point which is also in the plane, we can find another vector, .
 We can now find the normal vector by simply taking the cross of and .
 We can the vector which is perpendicular to the normal vector by considering the given
point and an arbitraty point .

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 We take the dot product of this vector and the normal vector and equate to zero since they
are perpendicular.
WORKED EXAMPLE
ZIMSEC NOVEMBER 2018 SPECIMEN PAPER 2
The plane contains the point with position vector and the line , , with vector
equation . Find the vector equation of .
Suggested Solution

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Now the equation of the plane is
For we choose any point in the plane but in this case let’s choose .
The vector equation is .
Follow Up Questions
1) Find the equation of the plane containing the points , ,

and
and
and
4) Find the equation of the plane with normal vector, containing the point
5) Find the equation of the plane with normal vector, containing the
point

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6) Find the equation of the plane with normal vector, containing the point
7) Find the equation of the plane that is equidistant from and .

10) Find the equation of the plane which contains the point and the line
.
Parametric equation of a Plane
Let:
be an initial point on the plane;
and
are contained the plane
The vector equation is given by , where and are
parameters. This implies that:
Thus the parametric equations are:

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WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Find the parametric equations through the point and containing the vectors
and .
Solution
The vector equation is given by
Thus the parametric equations are:
Example 2
Consider the plane with direction vectors and through
. Write the vector equations of the plane.
Answer
The vector equation is given by
Parametric equations for the plane are

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Follow Up Questions
1) Find the parametric equations through the point and containing the vectors
and .
and .
3) Find the parametric equations through the point and containing the
vectors and .
and .
and .
SUMMARY NOTES
 The Vector equation of the plane is given by:
 The Cartesian equation of the plane is given by:
 The normal to the plane is . Just consider the coefficients of

, and .
Take note of the following:
Hence
 For a scalar equation, any point (x, y, z) that satisfies the equation lies on the plane.

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 For vector and parametric equations, any combination of values of the parameters and
will produce a point on the plane.
 The intercept of a plane is found by setting and solving for x. Similarly,
the and intercepts are found by setting and ,
respectively.
 The equation of a plane that cuts the co-ordinates axes at , and
is
Determining whether a point lies in a plane
The point is said to lie in a plane if its coordinates satisfy the equation of a plane
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Show that the point lies in the plane .
Solution
Substitute the point to the LHS of the plane .
Now LHS:
Since the point lies in the plane .
Example 2
Consider the plane with direction vectors and through
.
a) Write the vector and parametric equations of the plane.

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b) Determine if the point is on the plane.
c) Find the coordinates of two other points on the plane.
d) Find the x-intercept of the plane.
b) If the point is on the plane, then there exists a single set of and values that
satisfy the equations.
Solve and for and using elimination.
(2)
)
Substitute into either equation .
Now check if and satisfy .

RHS
LHS
Since the values for and do not satisfy equation , the point does not lie
on the plane.
c) To find other points on the plane, use the vector equation and choose arbitrary values for
the parameters t and s.
Let and .
Let and .

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The coordinates of two other points on the plane are ) and
d) To find the -intercept, set and solve for and .
Solve and for and using elimination to get t=7⁄11

Now, substitute to get .
Follow Up Questions
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5

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Determining whether a line lies in a plane, is
parallel to or intersects a plane
Case 1
The line and the plane are not parallel so they intersect in one point
Line
Line
Plane Plane
A line intersects the plane when a value of the parameter can be estimated. Alternatively,
when the direction vector of the line is parallel to the normal vector of the plane, then line is
said to be perpendicular to the plane.
If the line and the plane intersect then the dot product of the normal and the direction vector
is not equal to zero i.e.
Case 2
The line and the plane are parallel so they do not intersect
Line
Plane
When a line is parallel to a plane, its direction vector is perpendicular to the plane’s normal
vector i.e.

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Case 3
The line and the plane are parallel and the line lies in the plane.
Plane
Line
To prove that a line lies in a plane, you need to show that the line and the plane are parallel
and that any point on the line also lies in the plane i.e.
 and
 The point ‘ ’ on the line should also be contained on the plane ;
 satisfies or
 the coordinates of the position vector of A must satisfy .
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Does the line lie in the plane ?
Solution
The direction vector of the line, , is and normal vector of the plane, , is
Since , the line is parallel to the plane.
Now find a point on the line by setting or any value of your choice.

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So the point lies on the line
Now check if the point satisfies the equation of the plane .
Now LHS:
Since the line and the plane are parallel and the point lies both on the line and in
the plane, therefore the line must lie in the plane.
Example 2
Show that the line is parallel to the plane .
Solution
The direction vector of the line, , is and normal vector of the plane, , is
Since , the line is parallel to the plane.
Example 3
Given a line and a plane :
Determine if and intersect or are parallel.
Solution
The normal vector of is and the line is parallel . As the
dot product , and are
not parallel to each other.
We need to see where the two objects intersect. Substitute the parametric equations of into
the equation of and solve the resulting equation for :

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.
Substitute t = 4 in the parametric equations of L to get the point of intersection at

.
Example 4
Given a line and a plane :
Solution
The normal vector of P is and the line L is parallel to
As the dot product , L and
P are parallel to each other.
We need to see if the two objects intersect. Since L is parallel to P, if intersects , then any
point of L should be in . Thus we only have to check if, when , the point
is on P.
Note that , and so and do not
intersect.
Example 5
Show that the line is perpendicular to the plane .
Solution
Show that the line and so for any point on the line
Substituting these into the equation of the plane gives

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Since there is a constant value of the parameter , thus the line and the plane are
perpendicular.
Follow Up Questions
1) Does the line lie in the plane ?
2) Given a line and a plane ;

4) Discuss the line and the plane , where

.
5) Determine whether the line is perpendicular to the plane
7) Given a line and a plane :
8) Show that the line is parallel to plane – .
9) Discuss the line and the plane , where

.

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Finding the point of intersection of
a line and a plane
 The vector equation of a straight line passing through the fixed point, with position
vector , and parallel to the fixed vector , is
.
 For the point of intersection of this line with the plane, whose vector equation is
,
the value of must be such that
,
which is an equation from which the appropriate value of t and, hence, the point of
intersection may be found.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example
Find the intersection of the line , and the plane .
Solution:
Substitute the line into the plane:
Put back to the line:
Hence the intersection point is
Example
Determine the point of intersection of the plane, whose vector equation is

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, and the straight line passing through the point, , which is
parallel to the vector
Solution
We need to obtain the value of the parameter, , such that
.
That is,
or ,
which gives ; and, hence, the point of intersection is
Follow Up Questions
1) Find the intersection of the line and the plane
2) Find the intersection of the line and the plane .
4) Determine the point of intersection of the plane, whose vector equation is

, and the straight line passing through the point, ,
which is parallel to the vector
.
6) Find the intersection of the line , and the plane

Page 63
Equation of a line perpendicular to

the Plane
When finding the equation of the line which is perpendicular to the plane we need to take
note of the following:
 The normal vector ( ) of the plane is the direction vector of the line which passes
through the point, say .
 Suppose the normal vector is given by and the line passes through the
point
 The equation is given by
Point
Line l
Worked Examples
Example 1
Find the equation of the line passing through and which is perpendicular to the
plane

Page 64
Solution
The normal vector is given by and the line passes through the point
The equation is given by
ZIMSEC June 2019 Paper 2
Find the equation of the line perpendicular to the plane through .
Solution
The normal vector is given by and the line passes through the point
The equation is given by .
Follow Up Questions
1) Find the equation of the line perpendicular to the plane through
.
4) Find the equation of the line passing through and which is perpendicular to
the plane
5) Find the equation of the line passing through and which is perpendicular
to the plane

Page 65
6) Find the equation of the line passing through and which is perpendicular to
the plane
Parallel Planes
Two planes are parallel if their normal vectors are multiples of each other and also if the
angle between the normals and is zero.
For example
and are parallel.
From the above example, and . This implies that
.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Are the planes defined by and parallel?
Solution

Page 66
A normal vector to the first plane is while a normal vector to the second
plane is .
Since is a scalar multiple of (namely ) then the normal vectors are parallel,
which implies the original planes are parallel.
Example 2
Find a point and the perpendicular vector to the plane .
Solution
The equation of a plane is
The components of the normal vector are the coefficients that multiply the variables
and . Hence,
A point on the plane is simple to find. Just look for the intersection of the plane with one
of the coordinate axis. For example: set and find from the equation of the
plane: , that is . Therefore,
Intersection of two planes
If two planes are not parallel, they must intersect in a line and in non-parallel lines, normals
are not multiples of each other.
NOTE
 The Normals of planes can identify relationships between the planes.
 If the Normals of the two planes are scalar multiples of each other, the planes are
parallel and can have either NO solution or an Infinite number of solutions.
 If the Normals are not parallel, then the planes intersect and have an infinite number of
points in common.
 This is an important concept because it opens the door for using parameters to solve
problems.

Page 67
Line of intersection of two planes
Line of intersection ( )
 From the diagram the vector is parallel to the line of intersection of two
planes. That is the line of intersection of two planes is perpendicular to both normals.
Line of intersection (L)
 If the normals and are perpendicular to each other that means they are at
angle and their dot product is equal to zero as cosine of is zero (see diagram
above). This helps us to conclude that if dot product of normals and is zero then
the planes are perpendicular to each other as the angle between the two planes is
defined as the angle between their normals.

Page 68
Now suppose and are two planes, with normal vectors and , then:
 The two planes are parallel (or the same) if and only if their normal vectors are scalar
multiples of each other
 If two planes are not parallel, they intersect but instead of intersecting at a single
point, the set of points where they intersect form a line.
 Let's call the line with direction vector .
 Then since is contained in , we know that must be orthogonal to . And,
similarly, is contained in , we know that must be orthogonal to as well.
 This means that to , we need to find a vector that is orthogonal to both and
using the cross product.
IMPORTANT NOTES
Two planes with normal vectors and are

(i) Parallel if and are parallel.
(ii) Orthogonal/perpendicular if and are orthogonal/perpendicular
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Find a vector equation of the line of intersections of the two planes and
.
Solution
First we read off the normal vectors of the planes:
The normal vector of is and
The normal vector of is

Page 69
Next, we find the direction vector for the line of intersection, by computing
Now, we have to find {a point on the line}

That is, we need to find a point that is on both planes.
Let , and this implies that and .
But means that .
Plugging this fact into the second equation gives us
.
And so , and we see that is a point on both planes.
NB: We can plug in to the given equations of the plane to double check:
and .
So, we have a point on the line, and a direction vector for the line, so a
vector equation of the line is
Example 2
Determine the vector equation, and hence the Cartesian equations (in standard form), of the
line of intersection of the planes whose vector equations are
where
and .
Solution
Firstly,

Page 70
Secondly, the Cartesian equations of the two planes are
and, when z = 0, these become
which, as simultaneous linear equations, have a common solution of .

Thirdly, therefore, a point on the line of intersection is (5,−3, 0), which has position vector
.
Hence, the vector equation of the line of intersection is
.
Finally, since and the line of intersection is
represented, in standard Cartesian form, by
Example 3
Find the line of intersection of the two planes
Solution
Eliminate from the two equations and then treat as the parameter.
Parametric Form:
Example 4

Page 71
Write the parametric and symmetric equations of the line of intersection of the planes
and .
Solution
Solution: The planes have normal vectors and , respectively.

Let denote the line of intersection.
Then is parallel to .
We only need to find a point on .
To find , solve the system of equations of the planes:
and .
We consider to be the point of on the plane . Thus substitute in the system
above to get
.
Hence we get , and so the equations of the line are
and
Example 5
Determine the equation of the line that passes through the point and is parallel to the
line of intersection of the two planes:
Solution
To find the equation of a line, we need a point and a direction vector (slope).
We need the direction vector of the line that lies at the intersection of the two planes.
Method One
The cross product of the two planar normals yields a vector that is perpendicular to both
normals and is also the direction vector of the line of intersection.

Page 72
The equation is
Method Two
Find the equation of the line of intersection using the parameter approach.
Let and sub into
Parametric equations are:
Sub z and y into
Vector Equation of the line of intersection:
Use the direction vector and point to determine the desired line.

Page 73
Angle between a line and a plane
The angle between the line and a plane is the complement between the line and the
normal to the plane
Line
 The angle is defined to be the angle between the direction vector of the line and the
normal vector of the plane.
 The acute angle between the line and plane is given by:
Alternatively it is calculated as follows:
Since
Then:

Page 74
WORKED EXAMPLE
Find the angle between the plane with equation and the line with equation
is the parameter.
Solution
Alternatively we can use the following method:
Now:

Page 75
Now:
Angle between two planes
Quadrilateral formed by the normals and

the intersecting lines along
the two planes
Obtuse angle between the two planes
Acute angle between the two planes
 From the diagram we can actually see that the angle between the two normals is (use
the properties of angles of a quadrilateral.)
 The angle between the two normals is calculated using the fact that the dot product of
vectors and is equal the product of the magnitude of vector and magnitude of vector
and cosine of angle . This implies that

Page 76
 This implies that:
 This further implies that the angle between the two planes is also the angle between the
two normals.
 Thus, suppose two planes intersect, then the angle between the planes is defined to be the
angle between their normal vectors.
 If the normal vectors of the two planes are and , then the angle is given by
WORKED EXAMPLES
Example 1
Find the angle between the plane with equation and the plane with equation
Solution

Page 77
Example 2
Find the angle between the two planes with equations and
respectively.
Solution
Example 3
Find the angle between the planes
Solution
The angle between the planes will be the angle between their normal vectors.
Let and , then

Page 78
Follow Up Questions
Question 1
Find the angle between the plane with equation and the line with equation
is the parameter.
Answer:
Question 2
respectively.
Answer:
Question 2
respectively.
Answer:
The distance from a point to a plane

Page 79
Vector Form
Let consider a plane with a normal vector n r and a point on this plane. The
distance from a point to the plane is given by the scalar projection of the
vector onto the normal vector :
Cartesian Form
If the plane is given by the Cartesian equation , then the

distance from a point to the plane is given by:
NB: means the absolute value of .
Two Parallel Planes
To get the distance between two parallel planes:

a) Find a specific point into one of these planes.
b) Find the distance between that specific point and the other plane using one of the
formulas above.
WORKED EXAMPLES

Page 80
Example 1
Determine the perpendicular distance, , of the point from the plane whose
cartesian equation is .
Solution
From the Cartesian formula
Example 2
Determine the perpendicular distance, , of the point from the plane whose cartesian
equation is .
Solution
NB: We want to use the both methods to solve the following question
Example 3
Find the distance between the point and the plane .

Page 81
Solution
First Method
We draw the point and the plane with an additional point Q on the plane.
From the picture, we see that the distance is the length of the vector and that is the
projection of onto ; here, is the normal vector to the plane, which we can tell from the
equation is
Thus, the distance is given by:
Finding
In this case, to find a point on the plane, we can set ; plugging this into the plane
equation gives so is on the plane. This means that .
Now

Page 82
Method 2
Alternatively we can use method 2 which is very simple.

Page 83
ALTERNATIVE METHOD 3
Point
Line l
Plane
To find the length of the perpendicular from the point to the plane we follow the
following simple steps:
(i) Find the equation of the vector which is perpendicular to the plane: The normal vector
of the plane is the direction vector of the line which passes through the point . i.e.
(ii) Find the point of intersection between the line and the plane. NB: The point of
intersection represents the coordinates of the foot of the perpendicular from a given
point
(iii)Lastly find the length between P and the foot of this perpendicular line using
coordinate geometry
Solved Problem
Example
Find the distance between the point and the plane .

Page 84
Solution
The equation of the line (In blue) is given by:
Now substituting equation (i) into to find the value of the parameter .
Now

Page 85
The coordinates of the foot are: .
Now finding the distance between and the foot .
NOTE
This method is very good especially when we are required to find the coordinates of the foot
of the perpendicular.

Page 86
The shortest distance from the origin to a plane
Cartesian Form
If the plane is given by the Cartesian equation , then the

distance from the origin to to the plane is given by:
NB: means the absolute value of .

Page 87
Example
Show that the distance from the origin to the plane with equation is
.
Solution
Follow up questions
1. Determine the vector equation and hence the cartesian equation of the plane, passing
through the point with position vector , and perpendicular to the vector
.
2. Determine the cartesian equation of the plane passing through the three points:
, and .
3. Determine the point of intersection of the plane, whose vector equation is
, and the straight line passing through the point ,
which is parallel to the vector .
4. Determine the vector equation, and hence the cartesian equations (in standard form),
of the line of intersection of the planes, whose vector equations are and
, where and .

Page 88
5. Determine, in surd form, the perpendicular distance of the point from the
plane whose cartesian equation is .
6. Find the distance from the point to the plane .
7. Find the distance between the point and the plane .
8. Find the distance between the point and the plane .
9. Find the distance between the point and the plane
10. Show that the distance from the origin to the plane with equation
is .
11. Show that the distance from the point to the plane with equation
is .
Answers
1. , or .
2. .
3. .
4. or
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Page 89
Solved Past Examinations Questions
The plane and the line have equations
and respectively, where is a parameter.
Find
(i) the position vector of the point of intersection of and , [4]

(ii) the angle between and [3]
(iii) the perpendicular distance from the origin to . [5]
Suggested Solution
(i) (i) and (ii)
substituting (i) into (ii)
Now
The position vector is
NB: Suppose you are asked to find the point of intersection, you should write it as

Page 90
(iii) Let point be the foot of the perpendicular from .

Now
Now

Page 91
Therefore the coordinates of the foot of the perpendicular are .
Hence the required distance is:
ZIMSEC JUNE 2017 PAPER 2
The position vectors of points and B are and , respectively.
Line has equation and the plane has equation
(a) Show that

(i) A lies in the plane , [2]
(ii) is perpendicular to the plane . [3]
(b) Calculate where is the origin. [3]
(c) Find the acute angle between the line and the plane . [3]
(d) Find the perpendicular distance from point to plane . [2]
Suggested Solution
a) (i) If A lies on the plane the its coordinates bust satisfy the plane
Now LHS:
Or alternatively

Page 92
Now LHS:
Since the point lies in the plane
a) (ii)
Since is parallel to the direction vector of the plane is perpendicular to the plane
.

Page 93
(d) Finding the distance between and plane or

Page 94
Practice Questions
Question 1
(a) (i) Show that the point of intersection, , of the line and the
plane is . [2]
(ii) Given that the points and are in the same plane (coplanar points) and
and have position vectors and – , respectively.
Find the vector equation of the plane, which contains the points and . [4]
(b) Find the perpendicular distance from to [3]
(c) Another plane has an equation .
(i) Show that lies on the plane . [2]
(ii) Given that is a line which passes through and is parallel to the
line which passes through and , find the
1. Cartesian equation of , [2]
2. angle between and . [3]
Suggested Solution
(a) (i) (i)
(ii)
Substituting equation (i) into equation (ii)

Page 95
Now to get the point of intersection we substitute the numerical value of into equation
(i):
The point of intersection is .
(ii) , and
and
Now
Now:
[4]

Page 96
and
Now we have to eliminate from the above equations:

Equation equation
Equation equation
Substituting equations and in either , or

Now:
[4]
(b) Let point be the foot of the perpendicular from .
and the line is

Page 97
Now
Now
Now

Page 98
(c) Another plane has an equation .
(iii)Substituting into plane :
LHS:
Since LHS lies on plane .
(iv) Given that is a line which passes through and is parallel to the
line which passes through and , find the
1. Cartesian equation of :
and
Now the vector equation is
The Cartesian equation is
2. Angle between and .
Solution

Page 99
Now:
Now:

Page 100
Question 2
a) Show that the cartesian equation of the plane, , that contains the points
, and is given by . [6]
b) Find
(i) the parametric equations of the line, , that passes through and , [3]
(ii) the vector equation of the line of intersection of the plane and with
equation . Denote it by . [5]
c) Another line, , passes through the point and is perpendicular the plane .
Find the vector equation of . [2]
d) Show that the cartesian equation of the plane, , consisting of all points which are
equidistant from and is . [4]
e) Find the angle between

(i) and , [4]
(ii) and . [3]
f) Calculate the
(i) perpendicular distance from to , [4]
(ii) shortest distance from the origin to . [3]
g) Show that lies on the plane . [2]
h) Find the equation of the plane which contains and the line . [4]
Suggested Solution
a) Show that the cartesian equation of the plane, , that contains the points
, and is given by . [6]

Page 101
Answer
We first find any two vectors in the plane:
Now to find the normal vector we find the cross of these two vectors:
To find the equation of this plane we let the arbitrary point be then we find .
We then take the dot product of and the normal vector and we set it to zero since
they are perpendicular.
Now:
Then:

Page 102
(as required)
b) Find
(i) the parametric equations of the line, , that passes through and , [3]
Answer
Now:
Now:
(ii) the vector equation of the line of intersection of the plane and with
equation . Denote it by . [5]
Answer

Page 103
The direction vector of the line is given by taking the cross between the normal
vectors and .
The equation of the planes are and .
Now:
and
Now to find the direction vector we find the cross of these two normal vectors:
To find any point on the line of intersection we write the equations of the
planes in Cartesian form and we let either or .
and
Let :
(i)
(ii)
(ii) (iii)
(iii) – (i) gives: .
Now (ii)
The point is
The equation is given by

Page 104
c) Another line, , passes through the point and is perpendicular the plane .
Find the vector equation of . [2]
Answer
The normal vector of the plane is the direction vector of this line. Thus:
d) Show that the cartesian equation of the plane, , consisting of all points which are
equidistant from and is . [4]
Answer
The normal vector is found by considering . Now:

Page 105
Also the point in the plain is calculated by simply finding the midpoint of .Now:
Now the equation is given by:
(as required)
e) Find the angle between

(i) and , [4]
Answer
Method 1

Page 106
Method 2
(ii) and . [3]

Answer

Page 107
f) Calculate the
(i) perpendicular distance from to , [4]
Answer
Let the distance be .

Page 108
(ii) shortest distance from the origin to . [3]
Answer
Now:
Also since they are perpendicular:
Now the required shortest distance is

Page 109
The required distance is .
g) Show that lies on the plane . [2]

Answer
(i)
Substituting into (i)
Since the equation of the plane is satisfied, therefore lies on the plane .
h) Find the equation of the plane which contains and the line . [4]
Answer
Let A be the point on the line which is also contained in the plain.
Now:

Page 110
Note: The cross of any two vectors in the plane gives the normal vector.
Now the equation is given by:
The equation of the plane which contains and the line is

Page 111
Practice Past Examinations Questions
The line has Cartesian equations
Find
(i) the length of the perpendicular from the origin to . [5]

(ii) an equation for the plane which contains and the origin, giving your answer in the
form . [4]
A plane contains the points and and passes through the origin.
(a) Find
(i) the equation of the plane OAB in the form . [5]
(ii) the coordinates of the foot of the perpendicular from point to the
line . [4]
(b) Calculate the angle between the lines and OC. [3]
(c) Show that the line is not contained in the plane . [3]
Given the points and ) find the
(i) value of , given that the Cartesian equation of a perpendicular bisector of a line
joining the points and , passing through the point is

Page 112
[4]
(ii) exact shortest distance of the line in part (i) to the origin, [4]
(iii)Cartesian equation of the plane containing points and . [4]
Relative to the origin , the position vectors of points and are and respectively
(a) Determine whether the point lies on whose equation is ,
where is the parameter. [2]
(b) (i) Given that line intersects the line , find the value of . [3]
(ii) Hence, calculate the angle between the line and the . [3]
(c) Find the position vector of the point on such that line is perpendicular to line
. [4]
a) A plane has vector equation and the point has coordinates
.
(i) Find the coordinates of the foot of the perpendicular from to the plane. [3]
(ii) Hence, or otherwise, find the coordinates of the image of when reflected in
the plane. [3]
(b) The plane and the line have equations
Find the
a) coordinates of the point of intersection between and , [4]
b) angle between and , [3]

Page 113
c) shortest distance from the origin to . [4]
ZIMSEC 2018 NOVEMBER PAPER 2
(a) The line has equation
and plane passes through the points and with coordinates

and respectively.
Find the
(i) Cartesian equation of , [5]
(ii) acute angle between the plane and the line . [3]
(b) The plane has equation
The line lies in the plane and is perpendicular to . The line passes through
the point The line
Find the
(i) vector equation of , [4]
(ii) vector equation of the line of intersection of the planes and . [4]
The plane has vector equation . The points and have coordinates
and respectively.
(i) Show that lies on plane . [2]

(ii) Find the
a) equation of the line perpendicular to through , [2]
b) Cartesian equation of the line . [3]

Page 114
(iii) Calculate the
a) acute angle between and . [4]
b) shortest distance from the to . [5]
Two planes and have equations and .
a) Show that the line , with equation lies on . [3]
b) Find the
(i) equation of the line of intersection between the two planes, [6]
(ii) point of intersection of line and plane [3]
(iii) the angle between the line and plane [4]

Page 115
ASANTE SANA

Page 116
*******THERE IS A LIGHT AT THE END OF EVERY TUNNEL *******
CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS ON THE FORM

OF THE PRESENTATION, INCLUDING ANY
OMISSIONS OR ERRORS, ARE WELCOME.
***ENJOY***
Nyasha P. Tarakino (Trockers)
+263772978155/+263717267175
ntarakino@gmail.com

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Vector 2D Equations

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Vector 2D Equations

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Vector 2

Compiled by: Nyasha P. Tarakino (Trockers)

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Vector equation of a line

 It is an equation that represents all possible points on the line.

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

NB: Given : is the head and thus

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

The equation can also be written as:

point on the line and a vector that is parallel to the line.

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Now choosing to be the point on

The vector-equation of the line is given by:

The parametric equation of the line is given by:

Thus the parametric equation is given by:

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

 Making the subject we obtain the Cartesian equation of a curve.

The vector parallel to the line is given by:

The vector-equation of the line is given by:

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Thus the parametric equation is given by:

Now making the subject of the formula in all equations:

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Answer: The parametric equations are:

b) The corresponding parametric equations are

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Determining whether a point lies on a line

Determine whether the point lies on the line

Substitute the point to the LHS of the line .

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Since all points give the point lies on the line .

ZIMSEC NOVEMBER 2017 PAPER 2

Determine whether the point lies on whose equation is , where is

the parameter. [2]

Substitute the point to the LHS of the line .

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Show that the point does not lie on the line .

Determine whether the point lies on the line

Determine the point lies on the line

Determine whether the point lies on the line

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Note: Skew lines lie in parallel planes.

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

The point of intersection is

Show that the lines and are parallel to each

Now the direction vector of is and of is .

and , then are parallel since .

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

gives . Substituting into gives .

If the lines : and : are parallel, find

the values of and .

Now to find let’s compare components first to get the ratio:

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Now comparing components:

Now comparing components:

Determine whether the lines and

are parallel, perpendicular or skewed to each other.

Tarakino N.P. (Trockers) ~ 0772978155/ 0717267175

Show that the lines and intersect. Also, find their

The dot product vectors and in is defined to be