Finding the equation of a plane

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Homework Statement


Find an equation of the plane that passes through the point (6,0,-2) and contains the line x=4-2t, y=3+5t, z=7+4t.


Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution


Here's what I did:
I substituted t=2 to get:
x=0, y=17, z= 15
So in total, we have three points that the plane contains: P1(6,0,-2), P2(4,3,7), P3(0,17,15)
Vector P1P2=<-2,3,9>
Vector P1P3=<-6,17,17>
I took a cross product of these vectors to get <-102,-20,-16>
I used the point P1(6,0,-2) to obtain:

-102(x-6)-20(y-0)-16(z+2)=0

But the solution is 33(x-6)-10(y-0)-4(z+2)=0
I'm unable to understand what I did wrong. I'd really appreciate any help!
 
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navalava said:

Homework Statement


Find an equation of the plane that passes through the point (6,0,-2) and contains the line x=4-2t, y=3+5t, z=7+4t.


Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution


Here's what I did:
I substituted t=2 to get:
x=0, y=17, z= 15
So in total, we have three points that the plane contains: P1(6,0,-2), P2(4,3,7), P3(0,17,15)
Vector P1P2=<-2,3,9>
Vector P1P3=<-6,17,17>
I took a cross product of these vectors to get <-102,-20,-16>
I used the point P1(6,0,-2) to obtain:

-102(x-6)-20(y-0)-16(z+2)=0

But the solution is 33(x-6)-10(y-0)-4(z+2)=0
I'm unable to understand what I did wrong. I'd really appreciate any help!

Substituting t=2 gives me x=0, y=13, z= 15. Check the y value again.
 
In fact, why bother finding another point on the line for which you have the parametric equation? You already have its direction vector and you know a point on that line by using t = 0 .

Find the vector from that t = 0 point to (6, 0, -2). You now have two vectors in the plane that you can find the cross product for. That would be less work than dealing with a third point.
 
Thank you! I see what I did wrong in substitution now!
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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