Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A ventilation pipe runs through a factory in a straight line. It makes the same angle with each of the three coordinate axes of the building plan. Find the direction cosines of the pipe, taking the direction in which all three are positive. Find the angle that the pipe makes with each axis. Then find the value of , where , and are the three angles.
For a line with direction ratios the direction cosines are , , with , and . The line through two points has direction ratios equal to the differences of the coordinates.
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. Equal cosines. and give . So for the positive direction.
Step 2. The angle. , and the same for and .
Step 3. The sines. . Three equal terms add to .
Answer: , each angle is about , and the sum of the squares of the sines is .
What if? The same sum is for every line, not only this one, because .
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