National Junior College Mathematics Department 2016

National Junior College

2015 – 2016 H2 Mathematics
Vectors II: Tutorial 2 Tutorial

Basic Mastery Questions

Angles
1. For each of the following pairs of lines, find the acute angle between the lines.
x 5 y
(a) r 6 i 4j k, and 1 z;
2 2
(b) r 2i 3j k (2i 3j k ), and r 4i j k (2i j 2k ), ;
(c) r i j k (i j k ), and r ( i j k ), .

2 3
2. Find the angle between the line l : r 4 5 , and the plane p : r j 1 .
5 4

3. Find the acute angle (correct to 0.1 ) between the planes: r (2i 3j 4k ) 6 and
x 2 y 5z 8 .

Foot of Perpendicular and Perpendicular Distance from a Point to a Line

4. Find the perpendicular distance from the point Q 3, 2, 1 to the line
r 4i 2k (3i 4 j), .

5. Find the position vector of the foot of the perpendicular from the point P(3, –3, 6) to the
line l: r 8i 7 j 2k (3i 2j 2k ), .
Hence, or otherwise, find
(i) the perpendicular distance from P to the line l,
(ii) the position vector of P’, the reflection of P about the line l.

Foot of Perpendicular and Perpendicular Distance from a Point to a Plane

6. Find the perpendicular distance from the origin to the plane x 2 y z 2.

7. Find the coordinates of the foot of the perpendicular, P, from the point Q(2, 0, 1) to the
plane p with equation r (i j 2k ) 3 . Thus find the shortest distance from Q to p.

Practice Questions

1. The line l passes through the points A(2, –1, 5) and B( –1, –4, 2).
(i) Find an equation of the line l.
(ii) Find the projection vector of AP onto l where P(4, 5, 3). Hence find the position
vector of the foot of the perpendicular from the point P to l.

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2. Find a vector equation of the line passing through A(2, 1, 5) which is perpendicular to and
y 1 z 1
intersects the line l whose equation is x 3 . Deduce the shortest distance
2 2
from A to the line l.

6
x+8 5−y
3. The lines l1 and l2 have equations 2 = 2 = z + 1 and r = a 4 ,
− respectively.
1

Find
(i) the acute angle between l1 and the z-axis.
(ii) the position vector of the foot of perpendicular, N, from the origin to l1.
(iii) the point of intersection of l1 and l2.

Hence, find a vector equation of the reflection of line l2 in the line l1.

4. Planes p1 and p2 have equations x 2 y 3z 0 and 3x y 2 z 0 respectively.

(i) Show that the acute angle between p1 and p2 is 60°.
(ii) Verify that the point P with coordinates (7, 2, −1) lies on p1 . Find the perpendicular
distance from P to p2 .
(iii) Deduce the perpendicular distance from P to the line of intersection of p1 and p2 .
(iv) Given that the point Q (1, −1, −1) lies on p2 , find the length of projection of QP
onto p2 .
(v) A third plane p3 with equation r (2i 4 j 6k ) 4 is parallel to p1 . Find the
distance between these two planes.

5. The planes p1 and p2 have equations x y z 0 and 2 x 4 y z 12 respectively.

The point P have coordinates (3, 8, 2) and O is the origin.

(i) Verify that the vector i j 2k is parallel to both p1 and p2 .

(ii) Find the equation of the plane which passes through P and is perpendicular to both
p1 and p2 .
(iii) Find the coordinates of any one point common to p1 and p2 , and hence find the
equation of the line of intersection of p1 and p2 , giving your answer in the form
r a b.
(iv) Find the coordinates of the point where the line OP meets p2 .
(v) Find the perpendicular distance of P from p1 . Hence find the length of projection of
OP onto p1 .

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6. The diagram below shows a rectangular block with its top sliced off. It is given that the
lengths of OA, OC, OD, and OH are 6 cm, 3 cm, 1 cm and 3 cm respectively. It is further
given that the quadrilateral ACGE is a rectangle.
J F

G
H I 3 cm

E
C B

D
j 3 cm
1 cm k
i
O 6 cm A

(i) Show that the equation of the plane DEFG is given by

r k 6i 3j 2k 2i j ,
where λ and µ are real parameters. Hence find the equation of the plane DEFG in
the form r · n = d.

The plane p has equation ax 2 y 6 z b, where a and b are constants. It is given that the
three planes, p, DEFG and OBFD, have no common point of intersection.

(ii) Find the value of a.

It is further given that the plane p is equidistant between the plane DEFG and the point C.

(iii) Show that b = 0.

(iv) Find the perpendicular distance from C to the plane p.
(NJC/2012 H2 CT/P1/Q9)

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2 4
7. A plane 1 has equation r 3 2 . The points A and B have position vectors 1 and
0 p
2
5 respectively where p, q .
q
(i) Find, in terms of p, the position vector of the foot of perpendicular X, from A to
1 .Deduce the exact value of p if the acute angle between line OX and the z-axis is
45o, where O is the origin.
(ii) A plane 2 , which is parallel to vector AB , has equation x y z 1 0 . Using the
value of p found in part (i), find the exact value of q.
(iii) A plane 3 is parallel to 1 and passes through the origin. Find the perpendicular
distance between 1 and 3 .
1 2
(iv) Another plane 4 has equation r 3 3 where , . Explain why
2 0
is perpendicular to 4 .
1

Determine the position vector of the point which is common to 1 , 2 and 4 .

(TJC/2007 H2 Prelim/P2/Q4)

Further Practice Questions

D C
1.
A B

k
S
R
j
3
O
i 4 Q

In the diagram, rectangles ABCD and OQRS are opposite sides of a parallelepiped. The
unit vectors i and j are parallel to OQ and OS respectively and unit vector k is
perpendicular to the plane OQRS.
Given that OQ = 4 units and QR = 3 units and point A has coordinates (1, 0, 3) with ABQO
lying on the xz-plane.
(i) Find the Cartesian equation of the line AR.
(ii) Find the position vector of the foot of the perpendicular N, from B to the line AR.
Hence, or otherwise, find the length of projection from AB to the line AR.
BN 1
(iii) Find the position vector of E such that E lies on BN produced and .
BE 3

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2. Planes p1 and p2 have equations r (i 2 j 2k ) 0 and r (2i j) 0 respectively.

(i) Verify that p1 and p2 are perpendicular to each other.

(ii) A third plane, p3 , passes through the origin and is at right angles to both p1 and p2 .
Show that a Cartesian equation of p3 is 2 x 4 y 5z 0.
(iii) Find the shortest distance from the point (1, 3, 1) to p3 .

3. Relative to an origin O, the points A and B have position vectors 3i j and 3i 3j

respectively. The line l1 and the planes 1 and 2 have equations as follows:
2 1 0
l1 : r OA 1 , 1 : x 2z 3, 2 :r 1 1 , where , and .
1 0 1
It is given that the planes 1 and 2 intersect in the line l2.
(i) Find a vector equation of the line l2 and show that the line l2 is parallel to the line l1.
Hence find the shortest distance between the lines l1 and l2.

(ii) The points C and D are on the lines l1 and l2 respectively such that ABC 90o and
ABDC is a parallelogram. Find the position vectors of the points C and D.

(iii) The plane 3 is parallel to the plane 2 and is equidistant to both point A and the
plane 2 . Show that the Cartesian equation of the plane 3 is given by x y z 1 .

Find the position vector of the foot of the perpendicular from the point A to the plane
3. (HCI/2007 H2 Prelim/P2/Q4)

4. The planes p1 and p2, which meet in the line l, have vector equations
2 1 0 2 2 1
p1: r = 4 1 0 1 1 and p2: r = 4 2 3 2 0 respectively,
6 1 1 6 0 1
where 1 , 2 , 1 and 2 are real constants.
(i) Show that l is parallel to the vector 5i + 6j + k.
(ii) Calculate the acute angle between p1 and p2.
(iii) Find, in exact form, the perpendicular distance from the point with coordinates
4, 2, 2 to p2.
The plane p3 has equation ax – 2y + 2z = b, where a, b .
(iv) Find b in terms of a such that all three planes meet at the single common
2
point with position vector 4 .
6

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(v) If given instead that a 2 , find the values of b such that the distance between the
1
planes p1 and p3 is units.
3
(CJC/2009 H2 Prelim/P1/Q11)

Challenging Questions

1. The points A and B have coordinates 2, 0, c and 0, 2, c respectively, where c is a

positive constant. Point P lies on line l: r (i j), .
4
(i) Show that cos APB can be expressed in the form of 1 2
for some
2 4 4 c2
.
(ii) Give further that c 6 , find the exact range of values of APB .

2. As shown in the the diagram, A, B and C are points with position vectors i, j, c respectively.
(i) Find the vector equations of planes OAC and OBC
in terms of c.
C

Let denote the acute angle between plane OAC and B

c
plane OBC, denote the angle between lines OA and j
OC, and denote the angle between lines OB and OC.
O i A
(ii) Prove that cos cot cot .
(iii) Hence show that 90 .

a1
3. Point A has a position vector a2 with reference to the origin O, where a1, a2, a3 .
a3
Let N denote the foot of perpendicular from A to the x-axis.
(i) Write down the positon vector of N and the length of AN.
(ii) A line l passes through N and is parallel to the z-axis. Explain why l lies in the xz-
plane.
(iii) Point P lies on l such that AB BP for any point B on the x-axis, all the possible
position vectors of P.
c1
Point C lies on the xz-plane with position vector 0 , where c1, c3 .
c3
Using the result of (iii) or otherwise, show that the minimum value of AB BC is
2
2 2
c1 a1 c3 a2 a32 .

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Numerical Answers to Vectors II Tutorial 2

Basic Mastery Questions

1(a) 45 (b) 36.7 (c) 0

2. 45
3. 35.5
29
4.
5
1 5
5. 1 (i) 6 (ii) 5
4 2
2
6.
6
6
7. P 2.5, 0.5, 0 ,
2

Practice Questions

2 1 2 4
1(i) r 1 1 , (ii) 2 , 1
5 1 2 7
2 2
8 5
2. r 1 4 ,
3
5 5
2
3
3(i) 70.5 (ii) 1 (iii) 9, 6,
2
2
9 10
r 6 16 ,
1.5 11

3 14 3 6 14
4(ii) (iii) 42 (iv) (v)
2 2 7
3 1 2 1 3 1
5(ii) r 8 1 4 , , (or r 1 8 1 15 )
2 1 1 2 2 2
2 1
3
(iii) r 2 1 , (iv) , 4, 1 (v) 3 3, 5 2
2
0 2

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1
6 41
6(i) r 2 6 (ii) a=1 (iv) or 0.937
41
6
2 7 /11
2
7(i) 2 , p 2 2 (ii) q 2 2 4 (iii) ; 12 /11
13
p 30 /11

Further Practice Questions

7/3 3
4
1(i) x 1 y 3 z (ii) 4/3 , (iii) 4
3
5/3 1
3
2(iii)
5
3 2 7 7 8/3
10
3(i) r 3 t 1 ,t , (ii) 3 and 5 (iii) 4/3
3
0 1 2 2 1/ 3
4(ii) 75.7 (iii) 22 (iv) b 2a 4 where a 2
(v) b 6 or b 10

Challenging Questions

1(ii) 0 APB 60
2(i) r c j 0

a1 a1 a1
3(i) 0 , a12 a2 2 (iii) 0 or 0
0 a12 a2 2 a12 a2 2

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