Intersection of Planes in R^3 and Dense Subsets of R^3

In summary, the question is whether it is possible to argue that three planes in 3-space are unlikely to intersect at a point using the fact that the subset of invertible 3x3-matrices has measure 0 in the set of all 3x3-matrices, and whether reducing the matrix M to Jordan form with all 1's on the diagonal would prove that the planes do not intersect. The poster believes this is a valid argument and is curious about others' thoughts on the matter.
  • #1
WWGD
Science Advisor
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Hi, All:
This is a post from another site that was interesting but was not
answered:

can I reasonably
> argue that three planes in 3-space are not likely
> to intersect at a point using the fact that
>t GL(3,R);
> the subset of invertible 3x3-matrices has measure 0
> in M(n,R); the set of all 3x3-matrices?
>
> Basically, the intersection of three planes Pi:=
>
> a_ix+b_iy+c_iz =d_i ; i=1,2,3.
>
> Is the same as having the matrix M with rows
> (a_i b_i c_i ) can be reduced to Jordan form
> with all 1's on the diagonal, and this is the
> same as M being invertible.

i.e., if M is invertible, then it can be turned into the Jordan Form as
the identity, which means that Ax=b will have a solution, with b=(d_1,d_2,d_3)
as above, i.e., the d_i are the constant terms.

Seems reasonable; wonder what others think.
 
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  • #2
Sounds correct to me.
 

1. What is the intersection of planes in R^3?

The intersection of planes in R^3 is the set of points where two or more planes intersect. In three-dimensional space, a plane is a flat surface that extends infinitely in all directions. The intersection of planes can be a point, a line, or a plane, depending on the orientation of the intersecting planes.

2. How do you determine the intersection of two planes in R^3?

To determine the intersection of two planes in R^3, you can use a system of equations to find the coordinates of the point of intersection. This point must satisfy the equations of both planes, so you can solve for the variables to find the coordinates. If the two planes are parallel or identical, there will be no intersection.

3. What is a dense subset of R^3?

A dense subset of R^3 is a set of points that is closely packed or clustered within the three-dimensional space. This means that for any given point in R^3, there exists a point in the subset that is arbitrarily close to it. In other words, the subset is "dense" in the sense that it fills up the space in R^3.

4. How is the intersection of planes related to dense subsets of R^3?

The intersection of planes in R^3 can be used to define dense subsets of R^3. For example, if you have two planes that intersect at a point, you can take that point and create a sphere with a certain radius around it. This sphere will contain infinitely many points that are close to the intersection point, making it a dense subset of R^3.

5. Are all dense subsets of R^3 defined by the intersection of planes?

No, not all dense subsets of R^3 are defined by the intersection of planes. While the intersection of planes can be used to define certain dense subsets, there are other ways to create dense subsets in three-dimensional space. For example, you could use a set of points that are arbitrarily close to a given point in R^3, without necessarily having an intersection of planes.

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