MAT 120 Fall 2022 - Chapter 12 Exam

Chapter 12 Question 1 (2+2+3+3=10 pts.)

Let a  x3, 2, 1y and b  x
5, 0, 12y.

(a) Find a b  3 
5 02 p1q  12 
3

i j k
(b) Find a  b   i
 x24,
41, 10y
2 1 3 1 3 2
3 2 1

5 0 12 0 12
5 12 j
5 0 k

(c) Find the angle between a and b.

Since a b  ||a||  ||b||  cos θ where θ is the angle between a and b, we may write

cos θ  a b
 arccos ||aa||  ||bb||
||a|| ||b|| and say θ . Then,

θ  arccos ?
3
a
32 22 12 p
5q2 02 122

(d) Find Projb a, i.e., the vector projection of a onto b.

Projb a 
a b
b

3 x
5, 0, 12y
b b 169
Chapter 12 Question 2 (2+2= 4 pts.) Let P(1,-1,2) and v  x3, 2, 1y

(A) Find an equation of the line passing throughP and is parallel to v .

Since the line is parallel to v, its direction vector is v  x3, 2, 1y.

Then the line through P can be written as

L: x  3t 1 y  2t
1 z t 2.

(B) Find an equation of the plane that contains P and is perpendicular to the line you
found in part paq

Since the plane π is perpendicular to the line, its normal vector n is parallel to
v  x3, 2, 1y

The equation of the plane π  3px
1q 2py 1q 1pz
2q  0

Chapter 12 Question 3 (6 pts)

Find an equation of the plane that contains the point Qp0, 1, 2q and the line

L: x  3t 1 y 2
t z  2t 2 t P R.

The normal vector can be found by the cross product of the vector PQ and the direction
vector of the line v  x3,
1, 2y, where point P p1, 2, 2q is a point on the line (Implying
that it is also on the plane). Point P can be found by making t variable equal to zero
for simplicity, you can pick any number for t .
Taking v  x3,
1, 2y as the direction vector for the line and PQ  x1, 1, 0y

The normal vector

n  v  PQ  x
2, 2, 4y .
the plane equation can be written as :

x
2, 2, 4y xx, y
1, z
2y  0 or
2x 2y 4z  10 .
Chapter 12 Question 4 ( 4 pts.)

Find a vector equation for the line of intersection of the following planes.

x y z 1 and 3x
2y z 5

This question can be solved in two ways,

(A) by solving the system of equations and finding 2 points on the line.
#
x yz 1
(1)
3x
2y z  5

By solving this system , 2 points for example P p1,
2,
2q and Qp0,
6,
7q can be found.
NOTE: There can be many different correct answers for this question.
Therefore the vector Equation of the line can be written as : rptq  x1,
2,
2y tx1, 4, 5y

(B) One can find the direction vector of the line by taking the cross product of the normal
vectors of the 2 planes given:
v  x1, 1,
1y  x3,
2, 1y v  x
1,
4,
5y

Therefore by taking any point P on the intersection of the planes, the equation of the line
can also be obtained.

Chapter 12 Question 5 (6 pts)

Let L1 and L2 be given by the following parametric equations.

L1 : x  2t 5 y t 2 z t 1 tPR
L2 : x 
4s 9 y  2s
4 z  2s
5 sPR

(A) The two lines are not parallel, since the direction vector of L1 is not a scalar multiple
of the directional vector of L2 (i.e:
24  12  12 )

(B) To find the point of intersection, we solve :

4s 9  2t 5
2s
4  t 2
2s
5  t 1

By solving these equations, we get t 
2 and s  2. and therefore the point of intersection
is p1, 0,
1q
Chapter 12 Question 6 (2+3+1= 6 pts.)

Let Π be the plane given by 3x
2y 6z  4 and P be the point p1, 1, 1, q.

(A) Find parametric equations for the line L passing through P and perpendicular to Π.
A normal vector n of Π would act as a direction vector v for L.
Therefore v  n  x3,
2, 6y. Hence a set of parametric equations for L would be
given as
x  3t 1 y 
2t 1 z  6t 1 tPR

(B) Find the point of intersection, R, of L and Π.

R should satisfy the equations for L and Π at the same time. Therefore, t should
satisfy

3p1 3tq p
2qp1
2tq 6p6t 1q  4 ðñ 49t 74 ðñ t 
493

Inserting this t value would produce the point on L that is also on Π as
Rp40{49, 55{49, 31{49q.

(C) Using the information from parts (A) and (B), find the distance of P to Π.

a
distancepP, Πq  distancepP, Rq  p1
40{49q2 p1
55{49q2 p1
31{49q2  9

Chapter 12 Question 7 (4 pts.)

Find the distance of the point Qp3, 2, 1q to the line L given below.

L: xt 1 y 2
t z  2t 3; tPR

We see from the equation that the line L passes through P p1, 2, 3q and is parallel to v 
x1,
1, 2y
Recall that the Distance d from a point Q to a line through P parallel to v

| PQ  v|
i j k
d
|v| ; PQ  v  12
01
22  x2,
6,
2y
; a ? ?
|PQ  v|  p2q2 p
6q2 p
2q2  44; |v|  6
c
d
44
6