I thought that the area of the parallelogram was equal to the dot product. I
seem to remember that we were able to find the area with some simple vector
calculation. Too bad my book is at home.

Josh

Warp wrote:

> Josh English <eng### [at] spiritonecom> wrote:
> : Of course, if you are using the vcross command to find your
> : normals, remember that the length of the resultant vector has a length
> : of the dot product, which will be at it's maximum when the vectors are
> : orthogonal (ie, 90 degrees apart).
>
>   Actually, the length of the normal vector calculated using cross-product
> of two vectors is (also) exactly the area of the parallelogram formed by the
> two vectors.
>   To get the area of the triangle formed by the two vectors, divide the
> length of the cross-product by 2.
>
> --
> main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
> ):_;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

--
Josh English -- Lexiphanic Lethomaniac
eng### [at] spiritonecom
The POV-Ray Cyclopedia http://www.spiritone.com/~english/cyclopedia/

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