[R] vector normal to a plane

[Uwe Ligges]

Uwe Ligges wrote:

> wwsprague at ucdavis.edu wrote:
> 
>> Hi All,
>>
>> (I have a degree in math, but I am too embarassed to ask my 
>> colleagues, so here goes:)
>>
>> I would like to get a vector normal (orthogonal) to a plane formed by 
>> two other vectors.  In matlab I do this:
>>
>> v1 = [.4, .6, .8]; v2 = [.9, .7, .2]; nn = cross(v1,v2) (gives ~[-.48, 
>> .65, -.24]
> 
> 
> Huh?
> 
> I don't have access to Matlab. Can you tell me how cross() is defined in 
> Matlab (it's not obvious to me - at least not at 10:40 pm - how can 
> anything get negative)?

My apologies - and thanks to Rolf Turner who told me the truth (well, I 
anticipated that it's getting too late this friday evening).

OK, I don't think what you are looking for is defined as a function in 
R. Anyway, for the 3D case it's pretty easy to write the result in one 
line of code ...

Uwe


> 
> 
>>
>> if I do R> cross(v1, v2), I get .94.  Huh?
> 
> 
> Ha! ;-)
> 
> crossprod(v1, v2):
> 0.4*0.9 + 0.6*0.7 + 0.8*0.2 = 0.94
> 
> Uwe Ligges
> 
> 
> 
>> Thanks for all your help, again.
>>
>> W
>>
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> 
> 
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