VECTOR EQUATIONS OF STRAIGHT LINES:

INTRODUCTION
The concept of vector notation and vector products provides a convenient
method of representing
Straight lines and planes in space by simple vector equations. Such vector
equations can be converted back to conventional Cartesian or parametric
equations.
We shall assume that the position vector of a variable point, P(x, y, z), is
given by
r = xi + yj+ zk,
and that the position vectors of fixed points, such as P1(x1, y1, z1) and P2(x2,
y2, z2), are
given by
r1 =

x1 i

y1 j +

z1 k

r2 =

x2 i

y2 j +

z2 k

THE STRAIGHT LINE PASSING THROUGH A GIVEN POINT AND

PARALLEL TO A GIVEN VECTOR:
We consider, here, the straight line passing through the point, P1, with
position vector, r1,
and parallel to the vector,
a1
a2
a3
a=
i+
j+
k.

From the diagram,

OP = OP1 + P1P.
But,
P1P = ta,
for some number t.
Hence,
r=

r1

+ ta,

which is the vector equation of the straight line.

EXAMPLES
1. Determine the vector equation of the straight line passing through the
point with position vector i 3j + k and parallel to the vector, 2i + 3j 4k.
Determined the vector equation of the straight line
Solution:
The vector equation of the straight line is
r = i 3j + k + t(2i + 3j 4k)
or
xi + yj+ zk= (1 + 2t)i + (3 + 3t)j + (1 4t)k.
THE STRAIGHT LINE PASSING THROUGH TWO GIVEN POINTS:
If a straight line passes through the two given points, P1 and P2, then it is
certainly parallel
to the vector,
x
x1
y
y1
z
z1
a = P1P2 = ( 2
)i+ ( 2
)j + ( 2
)k.

Thus, the vector equation of the straight line is

r
r = 1 + ta

EXAMPLE
Determine the vector equation of the straight line passing through the two
points,
P1(3,1, 5) and P2(1,4, 2).
Solution:
OP1 = 3i j + 5k
and
P1P2 = (1 3)i+ (4 + 1)j + (2 5)k = 4i 3j
3k.
Hence, the vector equation of the straight line is
r = 3i j + 5k t(4i + 3j + 3k).

Distance of line in plane(x,y)

Consider two points in plane (x,y) and we want to find the distance between them
so we will use Pythagoras theorem for this purpose.
To find the distance between these two lines we have distance formula:

In 2D,
Distance=

(x 2x 1)2+( y 2 y 1) 2

In 3D, By using the Pythagorean theorem twice, you can show that d((0,0,0),

(1,2,3))=(12+22)2+32=12+22+32
d((0,0,0),(1,2,3))=(12+22)2+32=12+22+32.

a) Internal division of a line segment:

Consider the point P(xP , yP) that lies on the line segment AB joining points A(x A ,
yB) and B(xA , yB):

Point P divides AB in the ratio k1 : k2 , and the coordinates of point P are given by
these formulas:

The blue formula is for three dimensional space, where you have 'z' coordinates
as well as 'x' and 'y'.
When point P lies between points A and B, it divides AB internally.
(b) External division of a line segment:
When point P lies outside of the line segment AB, it can divide
AB externally as shown in this diagram:

The formulas for external division are as follows:

Once again, the blue formula is for three dimensional space, where you have 'z'
coordinates as well as 'x' and 'y'.

PARAMETRIC EQUATION:
Definition:
A curve in the plane is said to be parameterized if the set of coordinates on
the curve, (x, y), are represented as functions of a variable t. Namely,
Where D is set of real numbers and variable t is called parameter and the
relation between x , y and t are called parametric equation.
x = f(t), y = g(t) t D.
As the vector equation of line through any point and parallel to d is given by:
AP = (x -

x 1 i + (y -

y 1 j + (z -

z1 k

(1
Also we know that point P any point on line then
AP= t d
(II
We have
(x -

x 1 i + (y -

y 1 j + (z -

z1 k

=t(

ai +

bj +

ck )

By comparing components we have

I.

x-

x1 = a t

II.

y-

y1

=bt

III.

z-

z1

=ct

(PARAMETRIC EQUATIONS)

In arranged form we also have

xx 1
a

=t

y y1
b
z z1
c

=t
=t

Question: Find parametric equation for straight line through A ( 2, 4 ,3) and
parallel to vector
d ( 4, 0, -7)

Solution:
As we know that:
I.

x-

x1 = a t

y-

y1 = b t

z-

z1

=ct
So,
x 2 = 4t

y4=0

z 3 = -7 t

So parametric equations are

x=4t+2

y=4

z=37t

Question 2: Find parametric equation for straight line through A ( 5, 6 ,3)

and parallel to vector

d ( -7, -6, -7)

SYMMETRIC FORM OF EQUATION:

There is one more form of the line that we want to look at. If we assume
that a, b, and c are all non-zero numbers we can solve each of the equations
in the parametric form of the line for t. We can then set all of them equal to
each other since t will be the same number in each. Doing this gives the
following,

xx 1 y y 1
=
a
b

z z1
c

=t

(This is known as symmetric form of equation)

Question:

Write down symmetric form of line through A (5, 4 ,3) and B (2 ,8 ,-7) ?

To do this we have to find out parallel vector of AB

AB = (

x2

x1

), (

d = AB = (-3, 4,-10)
Once we got this then,
d = (5, 4, 3) + t (-3, 4,-10)
d = (5- 3t, 4+4t, 3-10t)
So we have;
x = 5 3t
y = 4+4t
z = 3-10t
Here is symmetric form

y2

y1

), (

z2

z1

x5 y 4
=
3
4

z3
10

=t

If one of a, b, or c does happen to be zero we can still write down the

symmetric equations. To see this lets suppose that b = 0, a=0, c=0 In this
case t will not exist in the parametric equation for y ,x and z and so we will
only solve the parametric equations for t. We then set those equal and
acknowledge the parametric equation for y as follows,
So,
x=

x1

y=

y1

z=

z1