- #1
Melawrghk
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Homework Statement
L1=(x,y,z)=(-2,-4,-3)+t(-2,3,-2)
L2=(x,y,z)=(0,0,4)+ s(-2,-3,-1)
Find the shortest distance between the two lines
The Attempt at a Solution
First, I did the cross product of the two directional vectors from both lines:
(-2,3,-2) x (-2,-3,-1) = (-9,-2, 12)
And its unit vector is:
-9x-2y+12z
-----------
2291/2
Then I found the distance between two points on the lines:
R = (0,0,4)-(-2,-4,-3) = (2,4,7)
And then I just tried to project the R onto the unit vector and got 58/sqrt(229), but that's not right. Help?