Maths - Intersections of lines

The intersection of two lines is a point. However, this only applies if the lines intersect, otherwise the intersection is null.

In Two Dimensions

In two dimensions the lines will intersect if they are not parallel, that is, if they have a different slope.

In Three or more Dimensions

When lines are in 3 dimensions it is possible that the lines do not intersect, being in two different planes.

skew lines

We can use dual numbers to represent skew lines as explained here.

The relationship between the lines is represented by the dual number:

theta + d D

where:

if theta=0 then the lines are parallel

if d=0 then the lines intersect

Meet

For a wider discussion of intersection of 2D shapes see this page.


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Correspondence about this page

Book Shop - Further reading.

Where I can, I have put links to Amazon for books that are relevant to the subject, click on the appropriate country flag to get more details of the book or to buy it from them.

flag flag flag flag flag flag New Foundations for Classical Mechanics (Fundamental Theories of Physics). This is very good on the geometric interpretation of this algebra. It has lots of insights into the mechanics of solid bodies. I still cant work out if the position, velocity, etc. of solid bodies can be represented by a 3D multivector or if 4 or 5D multivectors are required to represent translation and rotation.

 

Other Math Books

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