Worked solution
Reflect a line using its fixed intersection and one reflected point
Given , , and , find
(i) the point of intersection of l and ;
(ii) a vector equation of the reflection of l in .
CJC · Discussion · Question 5
Answer
; reflected line .
(i) Intersect the line and plane
The line point is . Substitution gives , so and .
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(ii) Reflect the base point through its normal foot
Choose on l. The normal line is . Its foot F satisfies , giving , . Thus .
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(ii) Join the reflected point to the unchanged intersection
P lies on the mirror plane, so is fixed by reflection. A direction of the image line is . Therefore , . Changing the sign of the direction gives the same line.
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Common mistakes
Reflect both the point and the direction consistently, or use two image points.