Hey everyone I have just been given this question as homework, but dont know where to start? any help on getting started would be great !
Thank you
Work out parametric equations for the straight lines through this pair of points.
(-4, 2, 0) and (-3, 3, 0).
x = y= z=
Let the parameter be t.Originally Posted by lakitu
We want a function x(t) that gives x the values -4 and -3. Well, this is supposed to make a line, so we need to make x(t) a line. I'm going to have x(t) pass through the points (t, x) = (0, -4) and (1, -3).
where
. Now I will plug the point (0, -4) into this:
So my first parametric function will be.
Now we need a y(t). Again we must make y(t) linear, but now we also have to pass the function y(t) through the points (t, y) = (0, 2) and (1, 3) so that it matches what x(t) does.
Sowhere
. We easily find that
, so that
.
Notice that changing the parameter t does nothing to the z coordinate of the points on the line. Thus.
So the parametric version of your line is:
(x(t), y(t), z(t)) = (t - 4, t + 2, 0).
The only difference in any other correct solution is the choice of t values I used. (Recall that I used t = 0 and t = 1.) We could easily have usedand
or something. That would merely change the scale of the parameter and would still produce a correct solution.
-Dan
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gonna go do the rest now 