Shortest Distances - Lines (Edexcel A Level Further Maths): Revision Note

Shortest Distance between a Point & a Line

How do I find the shortest distance from a point to a line?

• The shortest distance from any point to a line will always be the perpendicular distance

  • Given a line l  with equation  and a point P not on l

  • The scalar product of the direction vector, b, and the vector in the direction of the shortest distance will be zero

• The shortest distance can be found using the following steps:

  • STEP 1: Let the vector equation of the line be r and the point not on the line be P, then the point on the line closest to P will be the point F

    • The point F is sometimes called the foot of the perpendicular

  • STEP 2: Sketch a diagram showing the line l and the points P and F

    • The vector  will be perpendicular to the line l

  • STEP 3: Use the equation of the line to find the position vector of the point F  in terms of λ

  • STEP 4: Use this to find the displacement vector  in terms of λ

  • STEP 5: The scalar product of the direction vector of the line l and the displacement vector will be zero

    • Form an equation  and solve to find λ

  • STEP 6: Substitute λ into and find the magnitude  

    • The shortest distance from the point to the line will be the magnitude of 

• Note that the shortest distance between the point and the line is sometimes referred to as the length of the perpendicular

Shortest Distance between two Lines

How do we find the shortest distance between two parallel lines?

• Two parallel lines will never intersect

• The shortest distance between two parallel lines will be the perpendicular distance between them

• Given a line  with equation and a line  with equation then the shortest distance between them can be found using the following steps:

  • Remember the direction vectors and are scalar multiples of each other and so either can be used here

  • STEP 1: Find the vector between and a general coordinate from in terms of μ  

  • STEP 2: Set the scalar product of the vector found in STEP 1 and the direction vector equal to zero

  • STEP 3: Form and solve an equation to find the value of μ

  • STEP 4: Substitute the value of μ  back into the equation for to find the coordinate on closest to 

  • STEP 5: Find the distance between and the coordinate found in STEP 4

How do we find the shortest distance from a given point on a line to another line?

• The shortest distance from any point on a line to another line will be the perpendicular distance from the point to the line

• If the angle between the two lines is known or can be found then right-angled trigonometry can be used to find the perpendicular distance

• Alternatively, the equation of the line can be used to find a general coordinate and the steps above can be followed to find the shortest distance

How do we find the shortest distance between two skew lines?

• Two skew lines are not parallel but will never intersect

• The shortest distance between two skew lines will be perpendicular to both of the lines

• To find the shortest distance between two skew lines with equations  and ,

  • STEP 1: Find position vectors for the points on each line that form the shortest distance

    • Point P has position vector

    • Point Q has position vector 

  • STEP 2: Find the displacement vector between P and Q

    • 

  • STEP 3: Form two equations by using the fact that the scalar product of the displacement vector and the direction vector of each line should equal zero

    • 

    • 

  • STEP 4: Solve the two equations simultaneously to find the values of λ and μ

  • STEP 5: Substitute the values of λ and μ into the displacement vector and take the magnitude

    • Shortest distance =