The planes and , which meet in the line , have vector equations
respectively.
Find a vector equation of the line in the form .
Find a vector equation of the plane which contains and which passes through the point with position vector . Find also the equation of in the form .
Deduce, or prove otherwise, that the system of equations
has an infinite number of solutions.
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Worked solution
Q12[0]
1. Identify a common point that lies on both planes.
By observing the parametric vector equations for and , the position vector is present as the base point in both equations.
Thus, the point lies on both planes and must lie on the line of intersection .
2. Find the normal vector to the first plane, $\Pi_1$.
The normal vector to , denoted as , is the cross product of its two direction vectors:
We can use a simpler, parallel normal vector by factoring out : .
3. Find the normal vector to the second plane, $\Pi_2$.
Similarly, the normal vector to , denoted as , is:
4. Find the direction vector of the line of intersection.
The line of intersection lies on both planes, so its direction vector must be perpendicular to both normals.
We can simplify this direction vector by dividing by to get .
5. Construct the vector equation of the line.
Using the common point and the direction vector , the vector equation of the line is:
or expressed in unit vectors, , where .
Q12[1]
1. Compute the vector equation of line $l$ (required from the previous part).
From the given equations of and , their normal vectors are:
and .
The direction of line is parallel to .
By inspection of the given vector equations, both planes share the position vector .
Thus, the equation of is .
2. Find a second direction vector parallel to $\Pi_3$.
Since plane contains the line , it contains the point and has direction vector .
It also passes through the given point . A second direction vector parallel to is the displacement vector :
3. Formulate a vector equation of the plane $\Pi_3$.
Using point and the two direction vectors and , the vector equation is:
where .
4. Calculate the normal vector to $\Pi_3$.
The normal to is given by the cross product :
To simplify, we can take the negative of this vector as our normal vector: .
5. Determine the Cartesian equation of $\Pi_3$.
Using the equation , where is the position vector of point :
The Cartesian equation of is .
Vector equation:
Cartesian equation:
Q12[2]
1. Verify that the first two equations correspond to the Cartesian equations of planes $\Pi_1$ and $\Pi_2$.
For , a normal vector is . Using a parallel normal vector , the Cartesian equation is , which gives .
For , a normal vector is . The Cartesian equation is , which gives .
2. Identify the third equation as $\Pi_3$ and use the intersection of the planes to deduce the number of solutions.
The third equation, , matches the Cartesian equation of found in the previous part.
The given system of equations corresponds to finding the intersection of the three planes , , and .
We know that and intersect at the line (given), and contains the line (from the previous part). Therefore, all three planes intersect at exactly the line .
Since a line contains an infinite number of points, the system of equations has an infinite number of solutions.
Since the given equations correspond to the Cartesian equations of planes , , and which share the line as their intersection, the system has an infinite number of solutions.
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