Workshop: Vectors and Transformations

Section 1: Points and Vectors. Your answers should only involve point and vector

operations (e.g., addition, subtraction, magnitude, dot and cross products) and NO

coordinates (e.g., x,y,z)

1. Ray reflection: when a ray of light from light source q hits a mirror at point p, in

what direction does it reflect off? Assume the normal direction of the mirror is n (a

unit vector).

n q

1. What is the (signed) distance from q to the mirror plane? How does the

distance reflect what side of the plane that q lies?

q lies above the plane (i.e., in the half-space that n points into) if h is positive.

2. Where is the reflection of q on the back side of the mirror?

n q

3. What it the reflection direction (a unit vector)? p

q'

2. Points and vectors: compute the intersection between a line segment and a triangle in 3D.

Your answers should be presented using point and vector operations (e.g., addition,

subtraction, magnitude, dot and cross products) and no x,y,z coordinates. [6 + 2 pts]

Consider a line segment with end points p, q, and a triangle with vertices r,s,t, see below:

1. Without computing the intersection point, write down the test that checks whether the line

segment intersects with the plane on which the triangle lies (Hint: think about what side of

the plane that p, q needs to be on). [3 pts]

2. Assuming the line segment passes your test, compute the location of that intersection point.

[3 pts]

3. [Extra credit] How would you test if the intersection point computed above lies inside the

triangle? [2 pts]

Section2: Fractals and geometric transformations

3. Fractals: A fractal consists of several scaled-down copies of itself, hence exhibiting a
fascinating, recursive structure. Consider the 2D fractal below (called Koch Bump). Follow
the instruction below to find the composition of the fractal as a union of several down-
scaled copies. Your answers should be products (in the correct order) of the three basic
transformation matrices, R, S, T, with appropriate parameters. [5+2 pts]

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1. The fractal is made up of four copies of itself, each having one-third size of the fractal. I
have circled one of these copies in the picture above. Circle the other three copies, and
write the transformations that transform the fractal to each of these four copies. [4 pts]

2. The fractal can also be decomposed into two down-scaled copies of itself. Circle these two
copies in the picture below [1 pt], and [Extra credit] write the transformations that
transform the fractal to each of these two copies. [2 pts]

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