Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematical-methods-i-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2013-resit/4/solution

Use parametric equations for the two lines,
Their cross product is . Projection of the separation of the base points onto this common normal gives the shortest distance between skew lines:
This projection is a lower bound on every connecting segment because adding either line's direction leaves its normal component unchanged. It is attained: imposing perpendicularity of to both directions gives and . The corresponding points are and ; their difference is , perpendicular to both lines and of length .

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