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:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)