Understanding Plane Intersections in R3

maccha
Messages
49
Reaction score
0
thought I understood equations of planes in R3 and their intersections, but apparently not. I'm very confused by what seems to be a basic problem:

find a vector equation for the line of intersection of x + y + z= 0 and x + z = 0.

Is x + z= 0 still a plane even though it doesn't have the form Ax + By + Cz = D?

I notice that if you set the two equations equal to each other you find that y = 1. Does this mean that the planes intersect on a line where y =1 and all x coordinates are equal to negative z coordinates? Thanks!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
The equation x + z = 0 does in fact have the form Ax + By + Cz = D; what is B here?

Also, how did you combine x + y + z = 0 with x + z = 0 to conclude that y = 1? If you suppose that x + z = 0 and y = 1, what is x + y + z?
 
maccha said:
thought I understood equations of planes in R3 and their intersections, but apparently not. I'm very confused by what seems to be a basic problem:

find a vector equation for the line of intersection of x + y + z= 0 and x + z = 0.

Is x + z= 0 still a plane even though it doesn't have the form Ax + By + Cz = D?

I notice that if you set the two equations equal to each other you find that y = 1. Does this mean that the planes intersect on a line where y =1 and all x coordinates are equal to negative z coordinates? Thanks!

As a hint you have to use vectors and vector products.
 
No, you don't have to use vectors and vector products. (Except that the problem specifically asked for a vector as solution. If it had not you could write the line as parametric equations.) But I see no reason for "vector products".
 
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...
Back
Top