Projection and Reflection of Vector WRT plane

SP90
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Homework Statement



Given a plane \Pi with normal n=i-2j+k and a vector v=3i+4j-2k calculate the projection of v onto \Pi and the reflection of v with respect to \Pi.

The Attempt at a Solution



I need to check that I'm doing this is right.

I think I need v - (v \cdot n)n = 3i+4j-2k - 7(i-2j+k) = -4i +18j-9k

And for the refection:

v - 2(v \cdot n)n = 3i+4j-2k - 14(i-2j+k) = -11i +32j-16k

Are those correct?
 
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SP90 said:

Homework Statement



Given a plane \Pi with normal n=i-2j+k and a vector v=3i+4j-2k calculate the projection of v onto \Pi and the reflection of v with respect to \Pi.

The Attempt at a Solution



I need to check that I'm doing this is right.

I think I need v - (v \cdot n)n = 3i+4j-2k - 7(i-2j+k) = -4i +18j-9k
You made a sign error.

The projection of v onto the plane should be perpendicular to the plane, right? So what should your answer dotted with ##\vec{n}## equal? That's how you can check your answer.
SP90 said:
And for the refection:

v - 2(v \cdot n)n = 3i+4j-2k - 14(i-2j+k) = -11i +32j-16k

Are those correct?
Same sign error.
 
Makes sense, thanks for the quick response.

I get 10i-10k+5k which, when dotted with n obviously gives 0.

Correcting the sign error for the second yields 17i-24j+12k.

Thanks for your help
 
That's not correct either. You need to normalize the normal vector before you use it in your formulas.
 
Ah, I see.

So instead I use \hat{n}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{6}}(1i-2j+1k)

and that gives Pv=\frac{1}{6}(25i+10j-5k).

And Tv=\frac{1}{6}(32i-4j+2k).

Is that right now?
 
Yes, those are correct.
 
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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