Maths Unplugged!

– By Sandal Sir

VECTOR & 3D GEOMETRY

Situation Set – 01 :

S-1: (1) Find length of altitude in ABC

(2) Prove sine law
(3) Find radius of sphere circumscribing & radius of sphere inscribed in a regular
tetrahedron having length of edge ‘k’.
S-2: (1) Prove cosine rule
(2) Prove projection rule
3
(3) cos 2A + cos 2B + cos 2C  
2
S-3: If O(O) is the circumcentre & O’ the orthocentre of ABC, then prove that :
(i) OA  OB  OC  OO,
(ii) O'A  O'B  O'C  2O'O
(iii) AO'  O'B  O'C  2AD  AP
where AP is the diameter through A of the circumcircle
S-4 : Prove that straight line joining the mid points of 2 non-parallel sides of a trapezium is
parallel to parallel sides & equal to half of their sum.
S-5: (1) ABC is a scalene triangle. AD, AD’ are bisectors of A meeting BC in D, D’
respectively. A’ is the midpoint of OD’. B’, C’ are points on CA, AB similarly
obtained. Show that A’,B’,C’ are collinear.
(2) Vectors P,Q act at ‘O’ (origin) have resultant R. If any transversal line cuts their
|P| |Q| |R|
line of action at A,B,C respectively, then prove that  
| OA | | OB | | OC |
S-6: The diagonals of 3 faces of a parallelepiped drawn from same vertex are prolonged half
their lengths. Show that 3 points thus obtained are coplanar with the opposite vertex.
S-7: (1) In AOB, E is the midpoint of OB & F divides BA in the ratio 1 : 2. AE & OF
OP
intersect at P. Find the ratio .
PF
(2) Through the middle point M of the side AD of parallelogram ABCD, a straight line
QB
BM is drawn intersecting AC at R & CD produced at Q. Find the ratio .
RB
(3) In ABC, EF is drawn parallel to BC with E on AB & F on AC. If FB & CE meet at L.
Prove that AL bisects BC.
1
S-8 : (1) Prove : Area of quadrilateral | d1  d 2 |, where d1 ,d 2 are diagonals
2
(2) In ABC, M is midpoint of AB & D be foot of internal bisector of C on AB, then
prove that
c
(a  b)cos
area of CDM | a  b | 2
(i)  (ii) cos DCM 
area of ABC 2(a  b) a  b  2abcosc
2 2

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Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir
S-9 : In ABC, let D, E, F be points on BC, AC, AB respectively, such that
BD CE AF ar( DEF)
   n, find ?
DC EA FB ar( ABC)
S-10 : The length of the edge of the regular tetrahedron D-ABC is ‘a’. Point E and F are taken
on the edges AD and BD respectively such that E divides DA & F divides BD in the
ratio 2 : 1 each. Then find the area of CEF?
S-11 : Let ‘O’ be an interior point of ABC such that OA  2OB  3OC  O, find the ratio of
area of ABC to area of AOC.
S-12 : (1) Find acute angle between diagonals of a cube
(2) Find shortest distance between diagonals of a cuboid, the lengths of whose
coterminous edges are a, b, c & the edges are a, b, c, & the edges not meeting it.
S-13 : Find laws of P moving in space, such that [Link]  0, where A, B are given fixed points.
S-14 : Find position vectors of foot of perpendicular & image of P on L (r  a  b) , where P
is not on L.
a b c
S-15 : (1) If a,b, c are coplanar, then prove that a.a a.b a.c  0
b.a b.b b.c
(2) Arc AC of a circle subtends a right angle at the centre O. Point B divides the arc in
the ratio 2 : 1. If OA  a,OB  b,OC  c then express c in terms of a,b
S-16 : (1) Equation of angle bisectors of 2 given lines.
(2) Express ê2 in terms of ê1 & n̂

(3) The vector  ˆi  ˆj  kˆ bisects the angle between c & 3iˆ  4j.
ˆ Determine c.

1. Consider a parallelogram ABCD. Let M be the centre of line segment BC and S denote the point of
intersection of the line segment AM and the diagonal BD. Find the ratio of the area of the
parallelogram to the area of the triangle BMS.
2. In the plane of a triangle ABC, squares ACXY, BCWZ are described, in the order given, externally
to the triangle on AC & BC respectively. Given that CX  b,CA  a , CW  x,CB  y. Prove that
a.y  x.b  0. Deduce that [Link]  0.

3. ‘O’ is the origin of vectors and A is a fixed point on the circle of radius ‘a’ with centre O. The
vector OA is denoted by a. A variable point ‘P’ lies on the tangent at A & OP = r . Show that
a.r | a |2 . Hence if P  (x, y) & A  (x1, y1) deduce the equation of tangent at A to this circle.

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Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir
4. Points X & Y are taken on the sides QR & RS, respectively of a parallelogram PQRS, so that
 21 
QX  4XR & RY  4YS. The line XY cuts the line PR at Z. Prove that PQ    PR.
 25 
5. Find the following for ABC
(i) length of median
(ii) distance between circumcenter and orthocenter
(iii) distance between circumcenter and centroid

6. If O is origin of reference point A(a); B(b);C(c); D(a  b); E(b  c); F(c  a);G(a  b  c) where
a  a ˆi  a ˆj  a k;
1 2
ˆ b  b ˆi  b ˆj  b kˆ and c  c ˆi  c ˆj  c kˆ then prove that these points are vertices
3 1 2 3 1 2 3

of a cube having length of its edge equal to unity provided the matrix.

 a1 a 2 a 3 
 b b b  is orthogonal. Also find the length XY such that X is the point of intersection of CM
 1 2 3

 c1 c 2 c3 
and GP; Y is the point of intersection of OQ and DN where P, Q, M, N are respectively the midpoint
of sides CF, BD, GF and OB.

7. Given four non zero vectors a, b, c and d. The vectors a, b & c are coplanar but not collinear pair
ˆ ˆ =  , (da)
by pair and vector d is not coplanar with vectors a, b & c and (ab) = (bc) ˆ ,
3
ˆ ˆ ˆ  cos1 (cos   cos )
(db)  ,(db)   then prove that (dc)
8. Find out whether the following pairs of lines are parallel, non-parallel & intersecting, or non-parallel
& non-intersecting.

r1  ˆi  ˆj  2kˆ  (3iˆ  2ˆj  4k)

ˆ r1  ˆi  ˆj  3kˆ  (iˆ  ˆj  k)
ˆ
(i) (ii)
r  2iˆ  ˆj  3kˆ  µ(6iˆ  4ˆj  8k)
2
ˆ r2  2iˆ  4ˆj  6kˆ  µ(2iˆ  ˆj  3k)ˆ

r1  ˆi  kˆ  (iˆ  3jˆ  4k)

ˆ
(iii)
r  2iˆ  3jˆ  µ(4iˆ  ˆj  k)
2
ˆ

9. The resultant of two vectors a & b is perpendicular to a. If | b | 2 | a | show that the resultant of
2a & b is perpendicular to b .
10. If r and s are non zero constant vectors and the scalar b is chosen such that | r  bs | is minimum,
then show that the value of | bs |2  | r  bs |2 is equal to | r |2 .

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Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir

11. a, b, c and d are the position vectors of the points A  (x, y, z) ; B  (y – 2z, 3x) ; C  (2z, 3x, -y)
ˆ 
ˆ ˆ
and D  (1, -1, 2) respectively. If | a | 2 3;(ab)  (ac);(ad)  
 and ajˆ is obtuse, then find
2
x, y, z.

12. Let u be a vector on rectangular coordinate system with sloping angle 60°. Suppose that | u  ˆi | is

geometric mean of | u | and | u  2iˆ | where î is the unit vector along x-axis then | u | has the value
equal to a  b where a, b  N, find the value (a + b)3 + (a – b)3.

13. If a & b are non collinear vectors such that, p  (x  4y)a  (2x  y  1)b &
q  (y  2x  2)a  (2x  3y  1)b, find x & y such that 3p  2q.

14. Show that the points a  2b  3c; 2a  3b  4c & 7b  10c are collinear.
15. Prove that the points A = (1, 2, 3), B(3, 4, 7), C (-3, -2, -5) are collinear & find the ration in which B
divides AC.
2 2
 a b   ab 
16. Prove that  2  2    
a b   | a || b | 
17. Find a unit vector â which makes an angle ( / 4) with axis of z & is such that â  i  j is a unit
vector.
18. Given that u  ˆi  2jˆ  3k;
ˆ v  2iˆ  ˆj  4k;
ˆ w  ˆi  3jˆ  3kˆ and

(u.R  10)iˆ  (v.R  20)jˆ  (w.R  20)kˆ  0. Find the unknown vector R.
19. Determine vector of magnitude 9 which is perpendicular to both the vectors :

4iˆ  ˆj  3kˆ & 2iˆ  ˆj  2kˆ

20. A triangle has vertices (1, 1, 1) ; (2, 2, 2), (1, 1, y) and has the area equal to csc(  / 4) sq. units.
Find the value of y.

21. If a  b  c  0, show that a  b  b  c  c  a. Deduce the Sine rule for a ABC.

22. ABC is a triangle and P any point on BC. If PQ is the sum of AP  PB  PC, show that ABQC is a
parallelogram and Q, therefore, is a fixed point.

23. Two forces AB and AD are acting at the vertex A of a quadrilateral ABCD and two forces CB and
CD at C. Prove that their resultant is given by 4EF , where E and F are the midpoints of AC and
BD, respectively.

24. Let â, bˆ and ĉ be the non-coplanar unit vectors. The angle between b̂ and ĉ is  , between ĉ and â
ˆ
is  and between â and b̂ is . If A(aˆ cos ), B(bcos ) and C(ccos
ˆ ), then show that in triangle

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Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir

ABC,
| aˆ  (bˆ  c) | | bˆ  (cˆ  a)

ˆ | | cˆ  (aˆ  b) |
 
| aˆ  (bˆ  c)ˆ | , where
sin A sin B sin C  sin .cos .cos nˆ 1

bˆ  cˆ cˆ  a aˆ  bˆ
nˆ 1  , nˆ 2  and nˆ 3  .
| bˆ  cˆ | | cˆ  a | | aˆ  bˆ |

25. Center of parallelopiped formed by PA  ˆi  2jˆ  2k,ˆ PB  4iˆ  3jˆ  kˆ & PC  3iˆ  5jˆ  kˆ is given by
position vector (7, 6, 2). Find position vector of P.

26. If a, b, c, d are position vectors of the vertices of a cyclic quadrilateral ABCD,

|a b  bd  da | | bc  cd  db|
prove that   O.
(b  a).(d  a) (b  c).(d  c)

27. Find the equation of line through the point with position vector 2iˆ  3jˆ and perpendicular to vectors
A  ˆi  2jˆ  3kˆ & B  3iˆ  4jˆ  5kˆ .

28. Find the shortest distance between lines r  (1  t)iˆ  (t  2)ˆj  (3  2t)kˆ &
r  (s  1)iˆ  (2s  1)ˆj  (2s  1)kˆ

Situation Set – 02 :

S-1: If a, b, c, d are 4 lines the space & (ad) represents any plane parallel to a & d & so on.
If (ad)  (bc) & (bd)  (ca), then prove that : (cd)  (ab) = ?
S-2: Prove that : (a  b)  (c  d)  (a  c)  (d  b)  (a  d)  (b  a) is parallel to a.
S-3: Find the unknown vector R satisfying R  B  c  B & R.A  O, where
A  2iˆ  k,B
ˆ  ˆi  ˆj  k,
ˆ c  4iˆ  3jˆ  7kˆ
S-4: Prove that :
.a .b .c
(1) [ m n][a b c]  m.a m.b m.c
n.a n.b n.c
(2) [a  b b  c c  a]  2[a b c]
geometric interpretation
(3) [a  b | +| a  b |2  2(| a |  | b |2 ) & geometric meaning
2

S-5 : If x2 + y2 + z2 = 1, x, y, z  R, find the maximum value of (2x  y)2  (3y  2z)2  (z  3x)2
S-6 : (1) Prove that : v1  a  (b  c), v2  b  (c  a) & v3  c  (a  b) are coplanar.
1ˆ ˆ ˆ are non-collinear. Find the angle between â & bˆ
(2) If aˆ  (bˆ  c)
ˆ  b, where b,c
2
& between aˆ & c. ˆ
S-7 : (1) Prove that a  b  [iˆ a b]iˆ  [jˆ a b]jˆ  [kˆ a b]kˆ
(2) If ˆi  (a  ˆi)  ˆj  (a  ˆj)  kˆ  (a  k)
ˆ  a,   ?

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Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir

S-8 : Given that a & b are orthogonal to each other, find v in terms of a,b satisfying v.a  0,
v.a  1 & [v a b]  1
x.a  c
S-9 : (1) Solve for x satisfying &
ax  b
(2) Find unknown vector R satisfying kR  A  R  B
xy a
(3) Solve for x, y satisfying x  y  b
x.a  1
(4) Solve for x satisfying : x  a  (x.b)a  c

1. A OAB is right L at ‘O’. Squares OALM & OBPQ are constructed on sides OA & OB externally.
Show that lines AP & BL intersect on altitude through ‘O’.
2. In a circle AD & BC are 2 perpendicular chords with segments a, b, c, d. If radius of circle ‘r’, the
prove that a2 + b2 + c2 + d2 = 4r2.

r  ( r.a)(b  c)  ( r.b)(c  a)  ( r.c)(a  b)

3. (1) If a, b, c are non-coplanar vectors, then prove that,
[abc]
(2) Prove that position vector of centre of sphere circumscribing a tetrahedron OABC
 (OCO), A(a), B(b),C(c) is
| a |2 (b  c)  | b |2 (c  a)  | c | (a  b)
2[abc]

4. If a, b, c be non coplanar vectors, then vectors reciprocal to them are

b c ca ab
a' ,b'  ,c'
[abc] [abc] [abc]
1. a.a '  1
abc
2. a ' b ' b ' c ' c ' a ' 
[a b c]

1
3. [a ' b ' c '] 
[a b c]

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Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir

5. The vector OP  ˆi  2jˆ  2kˆ turns through a right angle, passing through the positive x-axis on the
way. Find the vector in its new position.
6. The position vectors of the points A, B, C are respectively (1, 1, 1) ; (1, -1, 2); (0, 2, -1). Find a unit
vector parallel to the plane determined by ABC & perpendicular to the vector (1, 0, 1).

(a1  a) 2 (a1  b) 2 (a1  c) 2

7. Let (b1  a) 2 (b1  b) 2 (b1  c) 2  0 and if the vectors   ˆi  ajˆ  a 2k;
ˆ   ˆi  bjˆ  b2k;
ˆ
(c1  a) 2 (c1  b) 2 (c1  c) 2

  ˆi  cjˆ  c2kˆ are non coplanar, show that the vectors 1  ˆi  a1ˆj  a12 k;
ˆ   ˆi  b ˆj  b 2 kˆ and
1 1 1

1  ˆi  c1ˆj  c12 kˆ are coplanar.

8. Given non zero number x1, x2, x3 ; y1, y2, y3 and z1, z2 and z3
(i) Can the given numbers satisfy
x1 x2 x3  x1x 2  y1y 2  z1z 2  0

y1 y2 y3  0 and  x 2 x 3  y 2 y3  z 2 z3  0
x x  y y  z z  0
z1 z2 z3  3 1 3 1 3 1

(ii) If x i  0 and yi  0 for all i = 1, 2, 3 and P = (x1, x2, x3) ; Q(y1, y2, y3) and O(0, 0, 0) can the
triangle POQ be a right angled triangle?

9. The pv’s of the four angular points of tetrahedron are : A(jˆ  2k);B(3i
ˆ ˆ  k);C(4i
ˆ ˆ  3jˆ  6k)
ˆ &

D(2iˆ  3jˆ  2k).

ˆ Find :

(i) the perpendicular distance from A to the line BC.

(ii) the volume of the tetrahedron ABCD.
(iii) the perpendicular distance from D to the plane ABC.
(iv) the shortest distance between the lines AB & CD.
10. The length of an edge of a cube ABCDA1B1C1D1 is equal to unity. A point E taken on the edge
1 1
AA1 is such that AE  . A point F is taken on the edge BC such that BF  . If O1 is the centre
3 4
of cube, find the shortest distance of the vertex B1 from the plane of the  O1EF.
1
11. A(a); B(b);C(c) are the vertices of the triangle ABC such that a  (2iˆ  r  7k);b ˆ ˆ
 3r  j  4k;
2
c  22iˆ  11jˆ  9r. A vector p  2jˆ  kˆ is such that (r  p) is parallel to î and (r  2i)
ˆ is parallel to

p. Show that three exists a point D(d) on the line AB with d  2tiˆ  (1  2t)ˆj  (t  4)k.
ˆ Also find
the shortest distance of C from AB.

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Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir
12. Find the point R in which the line AB cuts the plane CDE where

a  ˆi  2jˆ  k,
ˆ b  2iˆ  ˆj  2k, ˆ  2iˆ  2jˆ  2kˆ & e  4iˆ  ˆj  2k.
ˆ c  4jˆ  4k,d ˆ

13. If a  a1ˆi  a 2ˆj  a 3k;

ˆ b  b ˆi  b ˆj  b kˆ and c  c ˆi  c ˆj  c kˆ then show that the value of the scalar
1 2 3 1 2 3

a.iˆ a. j a.kˆ
triple product [na  b nb  c nc  a] is (n3 + 1) b.iˆ b.jˆ b.kˆ
c.iˆ c.jˆ c.kˆ

14. (a) Prove that a  b  b.[a  (a  b)]

(b) Given that a, b, p, q are four vectors such that a  b  µp, b.q  0 & (b) 2  1, where µ is a scalar
then prove that | (a.q)p  (p.q)a | p.q .

15. ABCD is a tetrahedron with pv’s of its angular points as A(-5, 22, 5); B(1, 2, 3); C(4, 3, 2) and
D(-1, 2, -3). If the area of the triangle AEF where the quadrilaterals ABDE and ABCF are
parallelograms is S then find the value of S.

16.      
If A, B & C are vectors such that | B || C |, Prove that :  A  B  A  C   B  C . B  C  0.
  
17. If a, b and c are non-coplanar vectors, then prove that | (a.d)(b  c)  (b.d)(c  a) | (c.d)(a  b) | is
independent of d, where d is a unit vector.

18. Let a  ˆi  2jˆ  3k,

ˆ b  ˆi  2ˆj  2kˆ and c  2iˆ  ˆj  k.
ˆ Find the value(s) of  , if any, such that

(a  b)  (b  c)  (c  a)  0. Find the vector product when   0.

19. Find a vector v which is coplanar with the vectors ˆi  ˆj  2kˆ & ˆi  2jˆ  kˆ and is orthogonal to the
ˆ It is given that the projection of v along the vector ˆi  ˆj  kˆ is equal to 6 3 .
vector 2iˆ  ˆj  k.

[R.( ( ))]  R.(  ( ))   [R]( )

20. Prove that R   
|   |2 |   |2 |   |2

21. If a, b and c are three non-coplanar non-zero vectors, then prove that

(a.a)b  c  (a.b)c  a  (a.c)a  b  [bca]a.

22. Prove that if a, b, c & d represent the position vectors of the vertices of a plane quadrilateral then
[bcd]  [abd]
 1.
[acd]  [abc]

Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir Page 8

Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir
23. The base vectors a1 , a 2 , a 3 are given in terms of base vectors b1 , b2 , b3 as, a1  2b1  3b2  b3 ;
a 2  b1  2b2  2b3 & a 3  2b1  b2  2b3. If F  3b1  b2  2b3 , then express F in terms of
a1 , a 2 & a 3 .

1   2  1   2 
24.    
Let a  0  ; b 1  ; c  1 . Find the numbers , ,  such that a  b  c   5  .
 
 3  0  1   6 

p 2 b  (b.a)a  p(b  a)
25. (a) If px  (x  a)  b;(p  0) prove that x  .
p(p 2  a 2 )

(b) Solve the following equation for the vector p; p  a  (p.b)c  b  c where a, b, c are non zero
non coplanar vectors and a is neither perpendicular to b nor to c, hence show that
 abc  
pa    c  is perpendicular to b  c.
 a.c 
 
26. Solve the simultaneous vector equations for the vectors x and y . x  c  y  a and y  c  x  b
where c is a non zero vector.

27. If i  [(a  j)  ˆi]  ˆj  [(a  k)  ˆj]  kˆ  [(a  i )  k]

ˆ  0, then find vector a.

28. a, b and c are three non-coplanar vectors and r is any arbitrary vector. Prove that
[bcr]a  [car]b  [abr]c  [abc]r.

29. Let G1, G2 and G3 be the centroids of the triangular faces OBC, OCA and OAB, respectively, of a
tetrahedron OABC. If V1 denotes the volume of the tetrahedron OABC and V2 that of the
parallelepiped with OG1, OG2 and OG3 as three concurrent edges, then prove that 4V1 = 9V1.
30. If S1, S2, S3 and S4 are the areas of 4 triangular faces of the tetrahedron with volume V. If r is the
1
radius of sphere touching the 4 faces then prove that V  (S1  S2  S3  S4 )r.
3

Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir Page 9

Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir

ANSWER KEY
Situation Set – 01

1
1. 12 3. xx1 + yy1 = a2 5. R 2  (a 2  b 2  c2 )
9
11
6. 8. (i) parallel (ii) the lines intersect at the point p.v. 2iˆ  2jˆ (iii) lines are skew
3
11. x = 2, y = –2, z = –2 12. 28 13. x = 2, y = –1
1 1 1
15. externally in the ratio 1 : 3 17. i  j k 18. ˆi  2jˆ  5kˆ
2 2 2

19. 3(iˆ  2jˆ  2k)

ˆ 20. y = 3 or y = –1 25. 3,4,1
8
27. r  (2iˆ  3j)
ˆ  (iˆ  2jˆ  k)
ˆ 28.
29

Situation Set – 02

4 ˆ 1 ˆ 1 ˆ 1
5. i j k 6.  (iˆ  5jˆ  k)
ˆ 8. NO, NO
2 2 2 3 3

6 3 11
9. (i) 14 (ii) 6 (iii) 10 (iv) 6 10. 11. 2 17
7 5 170

12. p.v. of R  r  3i  3k 15. 110

18.  = 2/3; if  = 0 then vector product is 60(2iˆ  k)

ˆ

19. 9(ˆj  k)
ˆ 23. F  2a1  5a 2  3a 3 24.   1,   2,   3

 (b.c)b (b.b)c  a  (c.a)c  b  c b  (c.b)c  a  c

25. (b) p 
[abc]

a  cb     26. x 
1 c 2
,y 
1  c2
 (a.c)(a.b) (a.b) (a.b) 

1
27. a  (iˆ  ˆj  k)
ˆ
2

Maths Unplugged! – By Sandal Sir Page 10