Worked solution
Use a plane normal to measure distance and construct a perpendicular plane
The line passes through and . The plane has equation .
(i) Show is parallel to, but not contained in, .
(ii) Find the distance of from .
(iii) Find a Cartesian equation of the plane containing and perpendicular to .
[2010/JJC/I/7]
CJC · Discussion · Question 3
Answer
(ii) unit; (iii) .
(i) Check direction and base point separately
, so . The plane normal is . Its dot product with the line direction is . But , so the line is parallel and not contained.
(ii) Project a connecting vector onto the unit normal
Choose on . Then and the normal magnitude is . The perpendicular distance is unit. The source schematic joins Q to A obliquely and labels the perpendicular height separately; QA itself is not the distance.
(iii) Span the new plane by the line direction and the old normal
The required plane contains and as directions, hence . Their cross product is , giving . Thus . Its normal is orthogonal to the old normal, as required.
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Common mistakes
Measure the normal projection of a connecting vector, not its full oblique length.