Let the foot of the perpendicular of the point on the plane passing through the points be . Then the distance of from the origin is
- A
- B
- C
- D
Let the foot of the perpendicular of the point on the plane passing through the points be . Then the distance of from the origin is
Correct answer:D
Standard Method
Given: The point is and the plane passes through , and .
Find: The distance of the foot of the perpendicular from the origin.
First find the equation of the plane.
The normal vector is
So an equivalent normal vector is
Using point , the equation of the plane is
which simplifies to
The perpendicular from to the plane is along the normal vector. Hence the line through is
So,
Since lies on the plane, substitute these values into the plane equation:
Therefore,
Now the distance of from the origin is
Therefore, the correct option is D.
Use normal direction directly
Given: The foot of the perpendicular from to the plane through the three given points is .
Find: The distance .
The key idea is that the foot of the perpendicular lies on the line through in the direction of the plane's normal vector. Once the plane normal is obtained from , write
and impose the plane equation
to get immediately.
Then
So,
Therefore, the correct option is D.
Using the wrong order or incorrect computation in the cross product for . This gives a wrong normal vector and hence the wrong plane equation. Compute the determinant carefully and use any non-zero scalar multiple of the normal vector.
Taking the perpendicular line through in an arbitrary direction instead of the plane's normal direction. A line perpendicular to a plane must be parallel to the normal vector, so use direction ratios .
Making a sign error while substituting , , into . In particular, the term must be expanded carefully. Keep each sign explicit before simplifying.
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