In this explainer, we will learn how to find the equation of a straight line in parametric form using a point on the line and the vector direction of the line.
Recall that the vector form of a straight line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector is
Recall that the position vector of a point is the vector starting from the origin and ending at the point. The vector form of the equation of a line describes each point on the line as its position vector . Each value of the parameter gives the position vector of one point on the line.
In the parametric form of the equation of a straight line, each coordinate of a point on the line is given by a function of , called the parametric equation. Let us consider how the parametric form of the equation of a line may be derived from a given vector form of the equation of a line.
Consider a line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector . Then, the vector form of the equation of the line is given by
We can reduce the right-hand side of the vector equation into a single vector:
The - and -coordinates of points on the line are given by its position vector , which is the point . In other words, the -coordinate of the point is given by , while the -coordinate is given by for some . Hence, the parametric form of the equation of the line is obtained as written below.
Definition: The Parametric Form of the Equation of a Straight Line
The parametric form of the equation of a line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector is
Let us examine how the parametric form of the equation of a line can be obtained from the vector form in our first example.
Example 1: Finding the Parametric Equations of a Line given a Point on the Line and Its Direction Vector
Fill in the blank: If straight line passes through the point and has a direction vector , then the parametric equations of line are .
Answer
The parametric form of the equation of a line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector is
We are given that our line has a direction vector and passes through the point , so we have
Using these values, we can write the parametric form
Let us consider another example to familiarize ourselves with the process of converting the vector form to the parametric form of the equation of a straight line.
Example 2: Identifying the Parametric Equation of a Straight Line Given in Vector Form
The vector equation of a straight line is given by . Which of the following pairs of parametric equations represents this straight line?
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
Answer
Recall that the vector form of the equation of a line is , where is the position vector of the point on the line and is a direction vector of the line. Comparing this to the given equation, we see that a direction vector for our line is . Also, by substituting , we get the vector , which tells us that the point lies on this line. Thus, our line passes through point and is parallel to the direction vector .
We also recall that the parametric form of the equation of a line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector is
Substituting the point and direction vector into the parametric form of the equation of the line, we get
So, the correct answer is B.
In our next example, we will apply the definition for the parametric form of the equation of the line to obtain the direction vector from the parametric form.
Example 3: Finding the Direction Vector of a Line given the Parametric Equations of the Line
Fill in the blank: The direction vector of the straight line whose parametric equations are and is .
Answer
The parametric form of the equation of a line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector is
We are given the parametric equations: and ; so, comparing terms, we obtain the values
Hence, our line passes through the point and is parallel to the direction vector .
Hence, the direction vector is .
In the example above, we obtained the direction vector from the given parametric form of the equation of the line. This shows that we also can relate a given parametric form to the vector equation.
Consider the parametric equations and . Applying our definition for the parametric form of the equation of a line, we know that this line passes through the point and is parallel to the direction vector . Hence, the vector form of the equation of this line is
Using this method, the vector form of the equation of the line from our previous example is
As we have seen, instead of giving the direction vector of a line directly, a problem may provide this information indirectly. In fact, the direction vector of a line may be indirectly given by
- providing two points lying on the line,
- providing the angle between the line and the positive -axis, or
- providing the slope of the line.
The next example indirectly provides the direction vector of the line by means of an angle.
Example 4: Finding Parametric Equations of Straight Lines
Find the parametric equations of the straight line that makes an angle of with the positive -axis and passes through the point .
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
Answer
In this example, we are given the angle between the line and the positive -axis. In order to obtain the parametric equations of a straight line, we need to obtain the direction vector of the line.
Method 1
Recall that the slope of the line that makes angle with the positive -axis is given by . Since , the slope of the line is
Hence, the slope of the line is . We know that the slope of a line is also given by , so
This leads to the direction vector of the line . We also know that this line passes through the point . We recall that the parametric form of the equation of a line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector is
This leads to the parametric equations
This corresponds to the option A.
Method 2
We are given that the line passes through the point and its angle with the positive -axis is . Based on this angle, we need to determine a direction vector of the line. We recall the trigonometric ratios on the unit circle: the - and -coordinates of the point on the unit circle corresponding with angle are
Consider the following picture of the unit circle describing a direction vector at .
The components of this direction vector are
Therefore, a direction vector is given by . Substituting the direction vector and the point into the parametric form, we obtain
We can see, however, that none of the listed choices contain direction vectors with components . So, we know that this vector expression will not lead to any of the listed options.
To find the parametric equations, we must, therefore, search for alternate direction vectors that are parallel to but have integer components as in the given options. Factoring or from each component of this vector, we can write
Recalling also that two vectors are parallel if one vector is a constant multiple of the other vector, we see that the vectors and are both parallel to the original direction vector. So, both and are direction vectors of the line.
Let us first write the parametric form of the equation of our line using the direction vector and the given point . Substituting these values into the parametric form, we can obtain
Since this is not among the listed options, we try the other vector as the direction vector. Then, the parametric form is given by
This corresponds to the option A.
Our next example indirectly provides the direction vector of the line by means of the slope of the line.
Example 5: Identifying the Parametric Equation of a Straight Line Given in a Point and the Slope
A straight line passes through the point and has a slope of . Which of the following pairs of parametric equations represents this straight line?
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
Answer
Recall that the parametric form of the equation of a line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector is
We are given that the line passes through the point and has a slope of . We first need to determine a direction vector of the line from the slope. Once we have found a direction vector, we can use this, together with the given point, to form the vector equation of the line. From this, we can then establish the parametric equations for and .
We know that the slope of a line is also given by . Since we know that the slope of this line is , we have
This leads to the direction vector of the line .
Using the direction vector and the given point , we can write the parametric form:
We note that this parametric form does not match any of the given options. We must, therefore, choose an alternate direction vector that is parallel to the vector .
Looking through the choices, we can identify the direction vector used for each option by recalling that the - and -components of the direction vector can be obtained from the coefficients of in the respective coordinate equations. Hence,
- , ,
- , ,
- , ,
- , ,
- , .
Of the listed vectors, only is parallel to our direction vector since . So, let us use as the direction vector along with the point to write the parametric form of the equation of our line:
Thus, the correct answer is C.
In our final example, we will find the parametric equations of a line passing through a given point and the midpoint of two other points.
Example 6: Identifying the Parametric Equation of a Straight Line
Find the parametric equation of the line that passes through the midpoint of , where and , and point .
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
Answer
Recall that the parametric form of the equation of a line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector is
We are given that our line passes through the point , so we can use and . However, we can see that none of the listed options use these values, so we should look for a different point to use for the parametric equations.
We know that our line also passes through the midpoint of , so let us find the coordinates of this point. We recall that the coordinates of the midpoint is the averages of the coordinates of the endpoints. In other words, given two points and , the - and -coordinates of the midpoint of is given by
Hence, the -coordinate of the midpoint is and the -coordinate of the midpoint is
This leads to the coordinates . We notice that options A, C, and E use the values and for the parametric equations.
Let us identify the direction vector. We know that the line passes through points and ; hence, the direction vector of the line must be parallel to the vector connecting these two points. Subtracting the position vectors of these points, we obtain
Hence, a possible direction vector of this line is . We know also that this vector may be replaced by any constant multiple of the vector. Let us see if this direction vector is used in a listed option. Using the point and the direction vector , we obtain the parametric equations
This is option C.
We complete this explainer by noting some of the key points concerning the parametric equations of a straight line.
Key Points
- The parametric form of a straight line gives - and -coordinates of each point on the line as a function of the parameter.
- The parametric form of the equation of a line passing through the point and parallel to the direction vector is
- Any point on a line may be used to obtain the parametric equations of the line. Also, the direction vector may be replaced by any constant multiple of the vector.