Concept understanding — Angle and Distance between Lines and Planes
Four closely related "how far / how tilted" computations, all built from a plane's normal n or a line's direction b.
Angle between two planes = angle between their normals: θ=cos−1(∣n1∣∣n2∣∣n1⋅n2∣); perpendicular iff n1⋅n2=0, parallel iff n1=λn2.
Angle between a line and a plane = complement of the angle between the line's direction b and the plane's normal n (since a line lying flat in the plane is perpendicular to the normal, and vice versa): θ=sin−1(∣b∣∣n∣b⋅n); the line is perpendicular to the plane iff b∥n, and parallel to the plane iff b⋅n=0.
Distance from a point u to a plane r⋅n=p:δ=∣n∣∣u⋅n−p∣ (Cartesian: δ=a2+b2+c2∣ax1+by1+cz1−p∣); taking u=0 gives the distance from the origin, δ=a2+b2+c2∣d∣ for ax+by+cz+d=0. The foot of that perpendicular is u+∣n∣2p−u⋅nn.
Distance between two PARALLEL planesax+by+cz+d1=0 and ax+by+cz+d2=0 (identical normal direction ratios): δ=a2+b2+c2∣d1−d2∣ — always rescale one equation first if the normals are only proportional, not identical.
Meeting point of a line r=a+tb and a plane r⋅n=p (when b⋅n=0, i.e. not parallel): substitute the line into the plane's equation, solve the resulting LINEAR equation in t for t1=b⋅np−a⋅n, then the meeting point is a+t1b.
Tip
"Angle with a NORMAL/another plane" ⇒ use cos−1. "Angle with a LINE'S direction against a plane" ⇒ use sin−1 (because of the complementary-angle relationship) — mixing these up is the most common slip in this topic.
sinθ=∣b∣∣n∣b⋅n with b=(1,2,−2),n=(6,3,2).
✓Final answer
sinθ=218⇒θ=sin−1(218).
The angle between a line and a plane uses sin−1 of the (normalised) dot product between the line's direction and the plane's normal.