Finding Shortest distance from a point to a Line,which passes through a midpoint and is oriented at an angle Theta to X-Axis

Hi,

I have a line,which passes through certain point "P" and is oriented at an angle "theta" degrees to X-Axis. Now,I would like to find the shortest distance from a certain point 'Q" to this line.

Thanks in Advance!

Answer 1

[Bruno Luong]

Assuming your points are (2 x 1) vectors

d = abs(dot(Q-P,[-sin(theta);cos(theta)]))

[Math Enthusiast]

Thanks a lot! and, theta is supposed to be in radians, to apply the above logic right?

[madhan ravi]

theta is supposed to be in radians, to apply the above logic right?

Yes

because sin() takes argument as radians and sind() takes degrees as argument.

[Bruno Luong]

I only know angle in radian. ;-)