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Line Equations from Plane Intersections

The document provides an example of writing the parametric and symmetric equations of a line of intersection between two planes. It gives the normal vectors of two planes and finds their cross product to determine the direction vector that is parallel to the line of intersection. It then solves the system of equations of the planes to find a point P on the line and substitutes it into the parametric equations to write the final equations of the line.

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Chai Min Hiung
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5 views1 page

Line Equations from Plane Intersections

The document provides an example of writing the parametric and symmetric equations of a line of intersection between two planes. It gives the normal vectors of two planes and finds their cross product to determine the direction vector that is parallel to the line of intersection. It then solves the system of equations of the planes to find a point P on the line and substitutes it into the parametric equations to write the final equations of the line.

Uploaded by

Chai Min Hiung
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Write equations of a line as intersections of two planes

Example: Write the parametric and sysmetric equations of the line of intersection of the planes
2x y + z = 5 and x + y z = 1.

Solution: The planes have normal vectors a = (2, 1, 1) and b = (1, 1, 1), respectively. Let L
denote the line of intersection. Then v = a b = (1 1, (2 1), 2 (1)) = (0, 3, 3) is parallel
to L. We only need to find a point P on L.
To find P , solved the system of equations of the planes:

2x y + z = 5 and x + y z = 1.

We consider P to be the point of L on the plane z = 0. Thus substitute z = 0 in the ssytem above
to get
2x y = 5 and x + y = 1 = x = 2, y = 1.

Hence we get P (2, 1, 0), and so the equations of the line are

x=2


y = 1 + 3t and x = 2, y + 1 = z.



z = 3t

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