Question

Please help with an explanation

Answer 1

how do i approach a question like this @AccessDenied http://screencast.com/t/2hutBilKMTA

Answer 2

Our goal would essentially be finding a perpendicular vector to the line that extends to the point, and taking its length.
I am no great artist, so maybe the wikipedia depiction makes it clearer:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Distance_from_a_point_to_a_line.svg
Where the line in vector form has equation: x = a + t n and p is the point (as a position vector)

Answer 3

ok?

Answer 4

i dint get it bro /

Answer 5

The line is being formulated by taking a position vector, (1, 3, -4), and then adding a multiple of another vector in the line's direction (which lambda determines where any point on the line is).

That part makes sense? Essentially we start to use some vector manipulations to determine that perpendicular vector, starting by finding the vector a- p that runs from the point's position vector to the line's position vector...

Answer 6

ok so how do we find the perpendicular vector between the point and the line?