Find the distance of the point from measured perpendicular to line .
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
The equation of the straight line perpendicular to the given line 2 x = 3 y = 6 z and passing through the point P ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) is:
a x − 1 = b y − 1 = c z − 1
where, 2 a + 3 b + 6 c = 0 . Clearly, ( a , b , c ) = ( 3 , 2 , − 2 ) is a solution.
Let 3 x − 1 = 2 y − 1 = − 2 z − 1 = t
Then, any point on this line can be written as ( 1 + 3 t , 1 + 2 t , 1 − 2 t ) . Let this line intersect the plane x + y + z = 1 at Q ( 1 + 3 t , 1 + 2 t , 1 − 2 t ) . Then,
( 1 + 3 t ) + ( 1 + 2 t ) + ( 1 − 2 t ) = 1 ⇒ t = − 3 2
So, the point of intersection is Q ( − 1 , − 3 1 , 3 7 ) , and the required distance is:
P Q = ( 2 ) 2 + ( 3 4 ) 2 + ( − 3 4 ) 2 = 9 6 8
⇒ P Q = 3 2 1 7 ≈ 2 . 7 4 9