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LINES AND PLANES IN SPACE (Chapter 16)

(4)

two parallel and one intersecting

(5)

all 3 parallel

(6)

all meet at the one point

(7)

all meet in a common line

(8)

the line of intersection of any 2 is parallel to the third plane.

The program Winplot by Peanuts software displays these cases. This work should be linked to Chapter 13 on matrices. Solutions can be found by using inverse matrices (where there is a unique solution) and/or row operations on the augmented matrix. The use of row operations on the augmented matrix is essential when the solution is not unique. This is when the matrix of coefficients is singular (determinant = 0) and thus not invertible.

Example 23
a x + 3y z = 0 3x + 5y z = 0 x 5y + (2 m)z = 9 m2 for any real number m. Give geometric interpretations of your results. Hence solve x + 3y z = 0, giving a geometric interpretation. 3x + 5y z = 0 x 5y + z = 8 Use elementary row operations to solve the system: Augmented matrix 1 3 1 1
0 0 0 0 3 1 5 5 3 4 8 3 2 0

1 2m 1 2 3m

0 0 9 m2 0 0 9 m2 0 0 9 m2

R2 ! R2 3R1 R3 ! R3 R1 R2 ! R 2 1 2

1 1 m 1

R3 ! R3 2R2

Case (1) If m = 1, the augmented matrix becomes

1 0 0

3 2 0

1 1 0

0 0 8

The system is inconsistent, so there are no solutions. ) the three planes do not have a common point of intersection ! ! ! The normals are n1 =
1 3 1

n2 =

3 5 1

n3 =

1 5 3