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One approach to defining lines algebraically is via "slopes" (basically directions), but that doesn't extend well to higher dimensions.
The better approach is actually in terms of orthogonality.
Parametrically, a line takes the form over reals . The line goes in the nonzero direction .
So the component is orthogonal to the direction . Thus our line is alternatively described as the set of such that : the set of such that is orthogonal to (because being orthogonal to is equivalent to having direction ).
Cleaning up constants, let , , and . Then the line here is simply the set of satisfying .
Conversely, for any constants with not both zero (why does this matter?), it's easy to see that defines a line. (Why?)