Perpendicular Distance

In geometry, the perpendicular distance from a point, P, to a line, L, is the distance from P to L, measured along a line which is perpendicular to L and passes through P.

In three dimensions, a perpendicular distance may also be the distance from a point to a plane, measured along the line that passes through the point and is perpendicular to the plane. Also, it can be the distance between two non-coplanar lines, measured along the line that has perpendicular intersections with them both.

Read more about Perpendicular Distance:  Formulae (two Dimensions), Proof (Two Dimensions), Proof (Higher Dimensions), See Also

Famous quotes containing the word distance:

    Morality without religion is only a kind of dead reckoning—an endeavor to find our place on a cloudy sea by measuring the distance we have run, but without any observation of the heavenly bodies.
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)