8.

1 Higher Dimensions
It is time for us to tackle the idea of n-dimensional space a little more directly. Here
n-dimensional space refers to a geometric space Rn with n spatial dimensions, where
n can be any positive integer. For example, R1 is an infinite line, R2 is an infinite plane,
and R3 is a three-dimensional space that is infinite in all directions. When n ≥ 4, the
space Rn is said to be higher-dimensional.
Before we discuss the mathematics of higher-dimensional spaces, a few words about
philosophy are in order. There is a basic philosophical objection to higher-dimensional
spaces, which is that there are only three dimensions in the physical world. What does
it even mean to discuss the geometry of four or five-dimensional space if these spaces
don’t really exist?
The answer is that we don’t need these spaces to exist physically to be able
to talk about them. Four and five-dimensional spaces exist on the same level as
other mathematical objects, such as the number 10, the function f ( x )  x 2 , or the
interval [−1, 1]. None of these things have any real physical existence—they are
The philosophy of mathematics is the abstractions, which exist in the sense that they refer to certain aspects of real things.
branch of philosophy that considers the Thus we can have ten books, or the temperature can be ten degrees, but the number 10
reality of mathematical objects and the
nature of mathematical truth. itself isn’t real in any physical sense.
What four-dimensional space refers to is the set of possibilities for a system that
can be described by four real variables. For example, if a chemical reaction involves
four different reactants, then the concentrations ( C 1 , C2 , C 3 , C 4 ) of the reactants are an
ordered quadruple of real numbers. If a sector of the economy involves four goods,
then the prices ( p1 , p2 , p 3 , p4 ) of the goods are an ordered quadruple of real numbers.
In each case, the set of all possible values for this quadruple can be thought of as a
four-dimensional space, with each specific quadruple being a point in this space.
The reason we refer to Rn as a “space” is that we would like to extend our geometric
As with most statements in philosophy, intuition for R2 and R3 to higher dimensions as much as possible. It turns out that
the assertions being made here are hardly Rn is similar enough to R2 and R3 that it helps to think about it in geometric terms.
noncontroversial. For example, a
But when we refer to a quadruple such as (5, 3, 2, 7) as a “point” in R4 , we are really
mathematical platonist, who believes in
the independent reality of mathematical just making an analogy to points in R2 and R3 . Because higher-dimensional spaces
objects, would reject the notion that R4 is only exist in the abstract, we must always be very careful to define geometric terms
any less of a geometric space than the precisely before using them in this context. For example, the term “distance” seems
world that we live in.
self-explanatory in two and three dimensions, but for higher dimensions we must say
exactly what we mean by “distance” before we can use this concept.
Thus, our description of higher dimensions will include precise definitions of
many basic geometric concepts. In most cases, these definitions will be based on
the descriptions of these concepts that we obtained in R2 and R3 . For example,
the Pythagorean theorem is a theorem of Euclidean plane geometry, but in higher
dimensions it becomes part of the definition of distance.

Points and Coordinates in Rn

A point in n dimensions is simply a list of n real numbers. For example, (5, 3, 2, 7) is
a point in four dimensions, and (8, −1, 3, 0, 9, 1/2) is a point in six dimensions. The
individual numbers are called the coordinates of the point. The set of all points with
n coordinates is denoted Rn , and is referred to as n-dimensional Euclidean space or
simply n-dimensional space.
In R3 the three coordinates of a point are usually called x, y, and z. When working
with four or more dimensions, though, it is too cumbersome to use a different letter for
each coordinate. Instead, we refer to the n coordinates in Rn as x 1 , x2 , and so forth,
 HIGHER DIMENSIONS 2

with the last coordinate being x n . For example, the point

(5, 3, 2, 7)
has 5 as its x1 -coordinate, 3 as its x 2 -coordinate, 2 as its x3 -coordinate, and 7 as its
x4 -coordinate.

Vectors in Rn
A vector in Rn is a column of n real numbers:
 v1 
 v2 
 
v   . 
 .. 
 v n 

The numbers v1 , v2 , . . . , v n are called the components of the vector. As in R2 and R3 ,

it is convenient to think of vectors and points in Rn as being the same thing:
 v1 
Here and elsewhere, we use ellipses (· · ·)
 v2 
 
to represent components of a a vector v
numbered between v2 and v n . v  ( v1 , v2 , . . . , v n )   . 
 .. 
 v n 

In R2 and R3 , we defined addition of vectors geometrically using arrows, and then

worked out that it corresponds to the componentwise sum. For higher dimensions,
though, we use componentwise sum as the definition of addition.

 v1   w1   v1 + w1 
 v2  +  w2    v2 + w2 
     
 ...   ...   ..
. 
 v n + w n 
     
 vn   wn 

a Figure 1: The sum of two vectors in R n

We imagine vector addition as having the same geometric meaning in higher dimensions
that it does in R2 and R3 , as shown in Figure 1.
can be thought of geometrically using
arrows. Scalar multiplication is also defined componentwise:

 v1   kv1 
v2  kv2 
   
k  .    . 
 
 ..   .. 
 v n   kv n 

Again, we imagine this as having the same geometric meaning that it does in R2 and R3 .
For example, multiplying a vector by 3 should increase its length by a factor of 3 without
changing this direction, and multiplying a vector by −2 should double its length and
make it point in the opposite direction.
There are n different standard basis vectors in Rn , which we denote e1 , e2 , . . . , en .

 1   0   0 
0 1 0
     
e1   .  , e2   .  , ..., en   . 
 ..   ..   .. 
 0   0   1 
HIGHER DIMENSIONS 3

Any vector v in Rn can be written as a linear combination of the standard basis vectors:

v  v 1 e1 + v2 e2 + · · · + v n en .

Magnitude, Distances, and Angles

The magnitude of a vector v in Rn is defined by the formula
q
|v|  v1 2 + v2 2 + · · · + v n 2

If we imagine vectors as arrows in Rn , then the magnitude can be thought of as the

length of the arrow.

EXAMPLE 1
Find the magnitude of the vector (2, 4, 2, 5) .

SOLUTION We have
√
q
(2, 4, 2, 5)  22 + 42 + 22 + 52  49  7

If p and q are points in Rn , the distance from p to q is defined by the formula

q
distance (p, q)  |p − q|  ( p1 − q1 ) 2 + ( p2 − q2 ) 2 + · · · + ( p n − q n ) 2

Note then that the magnitude |p| of a point p represents its distance from the origin.

EXAMPLE 2
Find the distance between the points (8, 7, 0, 3) and (3, 1, 4, 1) in R4 .

SOLUTION The distance is

q
(8, 7, 0, 3) − (3, 1, 4, 1)  (5, 6, −4, 2)  52 + 62 + (−4) 2 + 22  9

The dot product of two vectors v, w in Rn is defined by the formula

v · w  v1 w1 + v2 w2 + · · · + v n w n

We can use dot product to define the angle between vectors. If v and w are nonzero
vectors in Rn , the angle between v and w is defined to be the value of θ between 0◦
and 180◦ that satisfies the equation

v · w  |v| |w| cos θ

We say that v and w are orthogonal if v · w  0. Two nonzero vectors are orthogonal if
and only if the angle between them is 90◦ .
 HIGHER DIMENSIONS 4

A Closer Look Cross Product in Rn

Though cross product as such only makes sense in R3 , there is a nice generalization of cross
product to any number of dimensions. This operation takes n − 1 vectors in Rn as input, and
outputs a new vector that is orthogonal to all of them. For example, if u, v, and w are vectors
in R4 , then the determinant
e1 e2 e3 e4
A similar formula works in Rn , with the
u1 u2 u3 u4
standard basis vectors e1 , e2 , . . . , en on
the first row of an n × n determinant, and v1 v2 v3 v4
the n − 1 input vectors on the remaining w1 w2 w3 w4
rows.
yields a vector c in R4 that is orthogonal to u, v, and w. Moreover, the magnitude of c is
precisely the volume of the (3-dimensional) parallelepiped in R4 determined by u, v, and w.
Interestingly, in the case of R2 this generalized cross product takes only a single vector v
as input, and is given by the formula

i j
 ( v y , −v x ) .
vx vy

The resulting vector has the same magnitude as v, but is turned 90◦ clockwise. Thus the
operation of turning a vector 90◦ can be thought of as a two-dimensional analog of cross
product!

EXAMPLE 3
Find the angle between the vectors (2, 3, 4, 5) and (3, 1, 2, 2) in R4 .

SOLUTION Let v  (2, 3, 4, 5) and w  (3, 1, 2, 2) . Then the equation

v · w  |v| |w| cos θ

becomes √ √
27  54 18 cos θ.
√ 
Solving for cos θ and simplifying yields cos θ  3 2, and therefore θ  30◦ .

Geometry in Rn
Essentially all of the geometry that we know in R2 and R3 continues to work in Rn ,
assuming we interpret all of the geometric terms correctly using vectors. For example,
four points a, b, c, d in Rn are said to be the vertices of a parallelogram if
a Figure 2: Four points a, b, c, d are the
vertices of a parallelogram in d − c  b − a. c − d  b − a,

as shown in Figure 2. Such a parallelogram is called a rectangle if d − a is orthogonal

to b − a, as shown in Figure 3, and a rectangle is called a square if |d − a|  |b − a|.
The reader should tentatively assume that all geometric concepts from two and
three dimensions continue to make sense in higher dimensions, and that these concepts
interact in all of the familiar ways. For example, it makes perfect sense to talk about a
circle in Rn , and the area of such a circle is still πr 2 , where r is the radius. Lines and
a Figure 3: A parallelogram with vertices planes make also make sense in Rn , and so forth. Essentially all of the vector geometry
a, b, c, d is a rectangle if c − a is orthogonal
to b − a. we have learned in R2 and R3 continues to work for these same shapes in Rn .
 HIGHER DIMENSIONS 5

EXAMPLE 4
Figure 4 shows a square in R4 . Find the coordinates of the point p.

SOLUTION Let v and w be the parallel vectors shown in Figure 5. We can find w by
subtracting the endpoints:

w  (9, 1, 5, 4) − (6, 4, 8, 1)  (3, −3, −3, 3) .

a Figure 4: The square from Example 4. This gives us the direction of v. The magnitude of v is the side length of the square, which is
the distance between the two bottom points:
q
(6, 4, 8, 1) − (1, 9, 3, 6)  (5, −5, 5, −5)  52 + (−5) 2 + 52 + (−5) 2  10.

Thus v is parallel to w but has a magnitude of 10. Since

q
|w|  32 + (−3) 2 + 32 + (−3) 2  6,

we conclude that v  (10/6) w  (5/3) w  (5, −5, −5, 5) . Then

a Figure 5: The vectors v and w. p  (1, 9, 3, 6) + v  (1, 9, 3, 6) + (5, −5, −5, 5)  (6, 4, −2, 11)

Of course, not all of the geometry in higher dimensions is so mundane. In addition

to two and three dimensional shapes, there are also lots of interesting high-dimensional
shapes in Rn , including hyperspheres (higher-dimensional analogs of circles and
spheres) and hypercubes (higher-dimensional analogs of squares and cubes), but we
must learn quite a bit of vector geometry and vector calculus in Rn before we can
investigate the properties of such shapes.

EXERCISES

1. Find the distance between the points (5, 1, 3, 7, 6) and (4, 2, 6, 9, 5) in R5 .

 1   5 
2 −1 
   
2. Find the angle between the vectors   and  in R4 .
 3   5 
 4   3 

3. The following figure shows a trapezoid in R4 .

Find the coordinates of the point p.

4. Find the area of the triangle in R4 with vertices (1, 1, 0, 0) , (0, 1, 1, 0) , and (0, 0, 1, 1) .
HIGHER DIMENSIONS 6

5. The following figure shows a right triangle in R4 .

Find the coordinates of the point p.

 8.2 Planes and Hyperplanes
A linear equation in three variables x, y, and z is any equation of the form

ax + b y + cz  d,

where a, b, c, d are constants and the coefficients a, b, c are not all zero. Any such
equation defines a plane in R3 .
Here are some examples of linear equations and the corresponding planes:

• The equation z  0 defines the x y-plane in R3 , since the points on the x y-plane
are precisely those points whose z-coordinate is zero.
a Figure 1: The x y -plane and several
other horizontal planes. • If d is any constant, the equation z  d defines a horizontal plane in R3 , which is
parallel to the x y-plane. Figure 1 shows several such planes.

• The equations x  0 and y  0 define the yz-plane and xz-plane, respectively,

and equations of the form x  d or y  d define planes parallel to these. For
example, Figure 2 shows several planes of the form y  d.

• The equation x + y + z  1 defines a slanted plane in R3 , which goes through the

points (1, 0, 0) , (0, 1, 0) , and (0, 0, 1) . This plane is shown in Figure 3.

In general, two planes that do not intersect are said to be parallel. Such planes can be
defined by equations having the same coefficients of x, y, and z, but different constant
terms, i.e.
ax + b y + cz  d and ax + b y + cz  e
a Figure 2: The xz-plane and several for d , e. No point ( x, y, z ) can simultaneously satisfy both of these equations, so two
parallel planes.
planes of this form do not intersect.

EXAMPLE 1
Find an equation for the plane that is parallel to the plane 4x + y + 2z  8 and goes through
the point (3, 1, 2) .

SOLUTION The desired plane must have an equation of the form

4x + y + 2z  d

for some constant d. Plugging in the point (3, 1, 2) gives

a Figure 3: The plane x + y + z  1. 4 (3) + (1) + 2 (2)  d,

so d  17. Thus the desired plane is defined by

4x + y + 2z  17.

Note that the equation for a plane is not unique. For example, the planes defined
by the equations

3x + 4y + 6z  12 and 6x + 8y + 12z  24.

are the same, since the second equation is just twice the first equation. In general, any
nonzero scalar multiple of the equation for a plane gives another equation for the same
plane.
 PLANES AND HYPERPLANES 2

Intercepts
The intercepts of a plane are the locations at which the plane intersects the x, y, and z
axes. Most planes intersect each axis at exactly one point, and finding these intercepts
can help to give a sense of how a plane sits in space.

EXAMPLE 2
Find the points at which the plane 3x + 4y + 6z  12 intersects the three axes.

SOLUTION A point lies on the x-axis if and only if its y and z coordinates are both zero.
Thus, we can figure out where the plane intersects the x-axis by setting y and z equal to 0 and
then solving for x:
3x + 4 (0) + 6 (0)  12.
Solving for x gives x  4, so the plane intersects the x-axis at the point (4, 0, 0) .
A similar procedure can be used to determine the intersection with the y and z axes. In
particular, this plane intersects the y axis at the point (0, 3, 0) , and it intersects the z-axis at
a Figure 4: The plane 3x + 4y + 6z  12. the point (0, 0, 2) , as shown in Figure 4.

Normal Vectors
A normal vector to a plane is any vector whose direction is perpendicular to that of the
plane, as shown in Figure 5. For example, the vector (0, 0, 1) is normal to any horizontal
plane.
There is a close relationship between the linear equation for a plane and the normal
vector.

Normal Vector to a Plane

If P is the plane in R3 defined by the equation
a Figure 5: The vector n is normal to the
plane P . ax + b y + cz  d,

then n  ( a, b, c ) is a normal vector for P.

For example, the vector (3, 4, 2) is normal to the plane 3x + 4y + 2z  15, and the
vector (1, 0, 1) is normal to the plane x + z  3.
We can justify this formula using the dot product. First, consider a plane P that
goes through the origin (0, 0, 0) . Such a plane has an equation of the form
ax + b y + cz  0.
Using the dot product, we can rewrite this equation as
( a, b, c ) · ( x, y, z )  0.
Geometrically, this equation says that the plane P consists of all points ( x, y, z ) whose
radial vector is orthogonal to ( a, b, c ) , as shown in Figure 6. It follows that ( a, b, c ) is
a normal vector for P. Since parallel planes have the same normal vectors, this also
holds for any plane of the form ax + b y + cz  d.

a
Normal vectors are useful because a normal vector to a plane completely determines
Figure 6: The plane ax + b y + cz  0
consists of all points ( x, y, z ) whose radial
the direction of the plane. Indeed, specifying a normal vector is probably the most
vector is orthogonal to ( a, b, c ) . common way to describe how a plane is oriented in space. Note, however, that the
normal vector is not uniquely determined, since any nonzero scalar multiple of a
normal vector is again a normal vector.
 PLANES AND HYPERPLANES 3

Parallel Vectors
A vector v is said to be parallel to a given plane if v can be moved so that its arrow lies
entirely on the plane, as shown in Figure 7. Equivalently, v is parallel to a given plane
if there exist points p and q on the plane so that v  q − p.
Note that any vector parallel to a plane must be orthogonal to the normal vector.
Conversely, any vector that is orthogonal to the normal vector must be a parallel vector.

EXAMPLE 3
a Figure 7: A parallel vector to a plane. Find the value of t for which the vector (3, 1, t ) is parallel to the plane 2x + 4y + 5z  12.

SOLUTION The normal vector to this plane is (2, 4, 5) . We take the dot product of this with
the given vector:

(2, 4, 5) · (3, 1, t )  (2)(3) + (4)(1) + (5)( t )  10 + 5t.

The given vector will be parallel to the plane when this dot product is zero, which occurs
for t  −2 .

Because the normal vector is orthogonal to all of the parallel vectors, the cross
product of any two parallel vectors that point in different directions will yield a normal
vector.

Finding an Equation for a Plane

A plane in R3 can be specified using its normal vector as well as a point on the plane.
This is similar to specifying a line in R2 using the slope of the line as well as a point in
the line.
The following example illustrates how to find the equation of a plane from a point
and a normal vector.

EXAMPLE 4
Find and equation for the plane through the point (2, 1, 3) that has normal vector (4, 2, 3) .

SOLUTION From the normal vector, we know that the plane has an equation of the form

4x + 2y + 3z  d

for some constant d. Plugging in the point (2, 1, 3) gives the equation

4 (2) + 2 (1) + 3 (3)  d

and thus d  19. Thus one equation for the plane is

4x + 2y + 3z  19.

We say that three points p, q, r are In the same way that any two points determine a line, any three points determine a
collinear if there is a line that goes plane. More precisely, if p, q, and r are three points in R3 that do not lie on a single
through all three of them. Thus any three line, then there exists a unique plane in R3 going through all three point.
non-collinear points determine a plane.
To find the equation of such a plane, observe that the vectors v  q − p and w  r − p
are parallel to the plane, and therefore the cross product n  v × w is a normal vector.
 PLANES AND HYPERPLANES 4

EXAMPLE 5
Find the equation of the plane that goes through the points (2, 5, 1) , (3, 6, 1) , and (2, 6, 3) .

SOLUTION Let v and w be the vectors shown in Figure 8. Then

v  (3, 6, 1) − (2, 5, 1)  (1, 1, 0) and w  (2, 6, 3) − (2, 5, 1)  (0, 1, 2) .

a Figure 8: The plane from Example 5. Both of these vectors are parallel to the plane, so their cross product is a normal vector:

i j k
n  v×w  1 1 0  (2, −2, 1) .
Note that (2, −2, 1) is orthogonal to both
(1, 1, 0) and (0, 1, 2) . 0 1 2

Then the plane has an equation of the form

2x − 2y + z  d

for some constant d. Plugging in any one of the three points gives d  −5, so one equation for
It is easy to check that all three of the
given points satisfy this equation. the plane is 2x − 2y + z  −5 .

Distance from a Point to a Plane

Given a plane in R3 and a point p not on the plane, there is always exactly one point q
on the plane that is closest to p, as shown in Figure 9. The point q is known as the
projection of p onto the plane, and the distance from p to q is the distance from the
point p to the plane.
We can use the dot product to find the distance from a point p to a plane. The trick
a Figure 9: The point q is the projection of is to first choose any point r that lies on the plane. Then the point p, its projection q,
the point p onto this plane. and the point r make a right triangle, as shown in Figure 10. In this case, the distance
from p to q is given by the formula

Here the absolute value is necessary in |s|  h · u

the case where u and s point in opposite
directions.
where u is a unit vector normal to the plane.

EXAMPLE 6
Find the distance from the point p  (8, 0, 9) to the plane 3x − 2y + 4z  2.

SOLUTION We start by choosing any point r on the plane, i.e. any values of x, y, and z that
satisfy the given equation. There are many possible choices, but let’s use r  (0, 1, 1) . Then

h  p − r  (8, 0, 9) − (0, 1, 1)  (8, −1, 8) .

The vector n  (3, −2, 4) is normal to the plane, so a unit normal vector is
a Figure 10: The right triangle made by a 1 1
point p, its projection q, and another point r u  n  √ (3, −2, 4) .
on the plane. |n| 29
Then
1 58 √
h · u  (8, −1, 8) · √ (3, −2, 4)  √  2 29.
29 29
√
so the distance is 2 29 .
 PLANES AND HYPERPLANES 5

Angle Between Planes

Two planes that intersect form an angle, sometimes called a dihedral angle. As
Figure 11 illustrates, the angle between two planes is the same as the angle between
their corresponding normal vectors.
Of course, there are two possible directions for each normal vector, which are
opposite from one another. There are also two different angles between the planes,
namely the acute angle θ shown in Figure 11, and the obtuse angle 180◦ − θ. Depending
on which pair of normal vectors we choose, the angle between them might be either θ
or 180◦ − θ.
a Figure 11: The angle between two
planes is the same as the angle between
the two normal vectors. EXAMPLE 7
Find the angle between the planes x + z  1 and x + y + z  2.

SOLUTION The corresponding normal vectors are v  (1, 0, 1) and w  (1, 1, 1) . The formula
If we had switched the direction of one v · w  |v| |w| cos θ gives
√ √
the normal vectors, such as using 2  2 3 cos θ.
w  (−1, −1, −1) , Then
!
then the angle between v and w would 2
have been θ  cos−1 √ ≈ 35.26◦ .
6
180◦ − 35.26◦  144.74◦ .

Note that each plane has normal vectors in two possible directions, which are
opposite from one another.

Hyperplanes
A linear equation in four variables has the form

a1 x1 + a 2 x2 + a3 x 3 + a4 x4  b,

where a1 , a2 , a 3 , a4 , and b are constants. Such an equation defines a hyperplane in R4 .

A hyperplane is similar to a plane, except that it is three-dimensional. That is, in the
same way that a plane is like a copy of R2 sitting inside of R3 , a hyperplane is like a
copy of R3 sitting inside of R4 .
Here are some examples of linear equations in R4 and the corresponding hyper-
planes:

• The equation x4  0 defines the x1 x 2 x3 -hyperplane in R4 , i.e. the hyperplane that

contains the x1 , x2 , and x3 axes.

• If b is any constant, the equation x4  b defines a hyperplane in R4 that is parallel

to the x1 x2 x3 -hyperplane.

• The equations x1  0, x 2  0, and x 3  0 define the x2 x3 x4 -hyperplane, the

x1 x 3 x4 -hyperplane, and the x 1 x2 x4 -hyperplane, respectively.

• The equation x1 + x 2 + x 3 + x 4  1 defines a slanted hyperplane in R4 , which goes

through the points (1, 0, 0, 0) , (0, 1, 0, 0) , (0, 0, 1, 0) , and (0, 0, 0, 1) .

Any vector between two points in a hyperplane is said to be parallel to the hyperplane.
A vector is normal to a hyperplane if it is orthogonal to every parallel vector. As in R3 ,
the hyperplane in R4 defined by the equation a 1 x1 + a2 x 2 + a3 x3 + a − 4x4  b has
( a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 ) as a normal vector.
 PLANES AND HYPERPLANES 6

Here the word flat refers to any infinite, In general, the word “hyperplane” refers to an ( n − 1) -dimensional flat in Rn .
boundless shape that does not bend or For example, hyperplanes in R5 are 4-dimensional flats and hyperplanes in R17 are
curve. Lines and planes are examples of
flats, but in Rn a flat may have any 16-dimensional flats. Any hyperplane in Rn can be defined by a linear equation of the
number of dimensions from 1 to n − 1. form
a 1 x1 + a2 x 2 + · · · + a n x n  b,
where a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n and b are constants. Such a hyperplane always has ( a1 , a 2 , . . . , a n )
as a normal vector.

EXERCISES

1. Find the equation of the plane that is parallel to x − 3y + 2z  4 and goes through
the point (2, 1, 5) .

2. Find the points at which the plane 4x − 2y + 5z  20 intersects the x, y, and z axes.

3–4 Find an equation for the plane through the point p that has normal vector n.

3. p  (−2, 3, 1) , n  (1, −2, 4) 4. p  (3, 4, 2) , n  (1, 0, 2)

5. Find an equation for the plane that goes through the points (1, 1, 0) , (2, 0, 1) ,
and (3, 1, 3) .

6. Let L be the line in R3 that goes through the points (2, −4, 5) and (3, 0, 7) . Find an
equation for the plane through (2, −4, 5) that is perpendicular to L.

7. Find a vector that is parallel to the plane −x + 5y − 2z  3 and orthogonal to (1, 1, 2) .

8. (a) Find the distance from the point (5, 6, 3) to the plane x + y + z  2.
(b) Find the projection of the point (5, 6, 3) onto this plane.
(c) Find the reflection of the point (5, 6, 3) across this plane.

9. Find the distance between the planes x + 2y − 2z  2 and x + 2y − 2z  17.

10–11 Find the angle between the given planes.

10. x + y + 2z  3, 2x − y + z  1 11. x + z  5, 3x + 5y − 3z  7

12. Find an equation for the hyperplane in R4 that goes through the point (2, 1, 5, 2)
and has normal vector (1, −1, 1, −1) .

13. Let H be the hyperplane in R4 defined by the equation x 1 + 2x 2 + 2x 3 + 4x 4  4.

Find the distance from the point (4, 5, 6, 7) to H.