CBSE

Class–12 Mathematics
NCERT Exemplar
Chapter - 11
Three Dimensional Geometry - Short Answer Questions

1. If the direction ratios of a line are find the direction cosines of the line.

Sol. The direction cosines are given by

Here are respectively.

Therefore,

i.e., i.e. are D.C’s of the line.

2 Find the direction cosines of the line passing through the points and

Sol. The direction cosines of a line passing through the points and

are

Here

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Here D.C.’s are

3. If a line makes an angle of with the positive direction of x, y, z-axes,

respectively, then find its direction cosines.

Sol. The direction cosines of a line which makes an angle of with the axes, are

Therefore, D.C.’s of the line are i.e.,

4. The of a point on the line joining the points

is 4. Find its .

Sol. Let the point P divide QR in the ratio , then the co-ordinate of P are

But of P is 4. Therefore,

Hence, the of P is .

5. Find the distance of the point whose position vector is from the plane

Sol. Let and d=9

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So, the required distance is

6. Find the distance of the point from the line

Sol. Let is the given point.

Any point on the line is given by

Since , we have

Thus

Hence .

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7. Find the coordinates of the point where the line through

crosses the plane passing through three points .

Sol. Equation of plane through three points is

i.e., or

Equation of line through is

Any point on line (2) is . This point lies on plane (1). Therefore,

i.e.,

Hence the required point is .

Long Answer Questions

8. Find the distance of the point (–1, –5, – 10) from the point of intersection of the line
and the plane .

Sol. We have and

Solving these two equations, we get

which gives .

Therefore, the point of intersection of line and the plane is and the other given

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point is . Hence the distance between these two points is

, i.e. 13

9. A plane meets the co-ordinate axes in such that the centroid of the is

the point . Show that the equation of the plane is

Sol. Let the equation of the plane be

Then the co-ordinate of are respectively.

Centroid of the is

But co-ordinates of the centroid of the are (given).

Therefore,

Thus, the equation of plane is

10 Find the angle between the lines whose direction cosines are given by the equations
and .

Sol. Eliminating from the given two equations, we get

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Now if then

and if then .

Thus, the direction ratios of two lines are proportional to and

i.e. .

So, vectors parallel to these lines are

, respectively.

If is the angle between the lines, then

Hence, .

11. Find the co-ordinates of the foot of perpendicular drawn from the point

to the line joining the points and .

Sol. Let L be the foot of perpendicular drawn from the points to the line passing

through B and C as shown in the Fig. 11.2. The equation of line BC by using formula
, the equation of the line BC is

Comparing both sides, we get

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Thus, the co-ordinate of L are

so, that the direction ratios of the line AL are i.e.

Since AL is perpendicular to BC, we have,

The required point is obtained by substituting the value of , in (1), which is .

12. Find the image of the point in the line .

Sol. Let be the given point and let L be the foot of perpendicular from P to the

given line.

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The coordinates of a general point on the given line are

If the coordinates of L are then the direction ratios of are

But the direction ratios of given line which is perpendicular to are . Therefore,

which gives . Hence coordinates of are

Let be the image of in the given line. Then is the mid-point of

. Therefore,

Hence, the image of in the given line is .

13. Find the image of the point having position vector in the plane

Sol. Let the given point be and be the image of in the plane

as shown in the Fig. 11.4.

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Then PQ is the normal to the plane. Since PQ passes through P and is normal to the given
plane, so the equation of PQ is given by

Since Q lies on the line PQ, the position vector of Q can be expressed as

Since R is the mid point of PQ, the position vector of R is

i.e.,

Again, since R lies on the plane , we have

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Hence, the position vector of Q is , i.e., .

Objective Type Questions

Choose the correct answer from the given four options in each of the Examples 14 to 19.

14.The coordinates of the foot of the perpendicular drawn from the point on

the are given by

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

Sol. (A) is the correct Answer.

15. is a point on the line segment joining the points . If

of is 5, then its is

(A) 2

(B) 1

(C) –1

(D) –2

Sol. (A) is the correct answer. Let divides the line segment in the ratio of

of the point may be expressed as giving so that

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 . Thus, of is .

16. If α, β, γ are the angles that a line makes with the positive direction of x,yand z
axes respectively, then the direction cosines of the line are.

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

Sol. (B) is the correct answer.

17. The distance of a point from is

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

Sol. (C) is the correct answer. The required distance is the distance of from

which is .

18. The equations of in space are

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

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Sol. (D) is the correct answer. On the and are
zero.

19. A line makes equal angles with co-ordinate axes. Direction cosines of this line are

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

Sol. (B) is the correct answer. Let the line makes angle with each of the axis. Then, its
direction cosines are .

Since . Therefore,

Fill in the blanks in each of the Examples from 20 to 22.

20. If a line makes angles with respectively, then its

direction cosines are __________.

Sol. The direction cosines are

21. If a line makes angles with the positive directions of the coordinate axes,
then the value of is __________.

Sol. Note that

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22. If a line makes an angle of with each of y and z axes, then the angle which it

makes with is __________.

Sol. Let it makes angle with . Then which after

simplification gives .

State whether the following statements are True or False in Examples 23 and 24.

23. The points are collinear.

Sol. Let A, B, C be the points respectively. Then, the

direction ratios of each of the lines AB and BC are proportional to . Therefore, the
statement is true.

24. The vector equation of the line passing through the points is

Sol. The position vector of the points are

and therefore, the required equation of the line is given by

Hence, the statement is true.

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