JEE Main & Advanced Mathematics Three Dimensional Geometry Question Bank System of Co-ordinates, Direction cosines and direction ratios, Projection

  • question_answer
    The number of straight lines that are equally inclined to the three dimensional co-ordinate axes, is [MP PET 1994]

    A)            2

    B)            4

    C)            6

    D)            8

    Correct Answer: B

    Solution :

               Since \[\alpha =\beta =\gamma \,\,\,\Rightarrow \,\,{{\cos }^{2}}\alpha +{{\cos }^{2}}\alpha +{{\cos }^{2}}\alpha =1\]            \[\Rightarrow \,\,\alpha ={{\cos }^{-1}}\left( \pm \,\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} \right)\]            So, there are four lines whose direction cosines are            \[\left( \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}},\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}},\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} \right),\,\left( \frac{-1}{\sqrt{3}},\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}},\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} \right),\,\left( \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}},\frac{-1}{\sqrt{3}},\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} \right),\] \[\left( \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}},\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}},\frac{-1}{\sqrt{3}} \right)\].


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