Find the shortest distance between the lines and
Solution
First we find the direction of a line perpendicular to both of these lines. By taking the cross product we find that the plane contains the first line and is parallel to the second. Now we take a point on the second line, say the point and find the distance between this point and the plane. This comes out to .
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.