Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2020 / ia / Paper 1 / 5C (Vectors and Matrices)

Expanding the squared Euclidean distances givesThus one may takeThe normal is parallel to $\overrightarrow{AB}$, so $L_{AB}$ is its perpendicular bisector. If $\mathbf{x}$ lies on both $L_{AB}$ and $L_{BC}$, then $|\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{a}|=|\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{b}|=|\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{c}|$, hence it also lies on $L_{CA}$. Geometrically, the three perpendicular bisectors of the noncollinear triangle concur at its circumcenter.

Assume the direction vectors are nonzero. The cross product equation is equivalent toso $\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{a}$ is parallel to $\mathbf{u}$ and the locus is the line $\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{a}+\lambda \mathbf{u}$.

For nonparallel directions, ${\mathbf{u}}_1\times {\mathbf{u}}_2$ is normal to both lines. Projecting their displacement onto the corresponding unit vector gives the distance between skew linesIf the directions are parallel, the corresponding formula is