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Other "orthogonal" pairs of axes

Intuition: for any nonzero vector (x,y)(x,y), each two "neighboring" pairs among (x,y)(x,y), (−y,x)(-y,x), (−x,y)(-x,y), (−y,−x)(-y,-x) should be orthogonal. (Draw a picture to gain intuition!)

So by the parametric definition of a line, we see that the "(x,y)(x,y)-axes" (the line {(tx,ty):t∈R}\{(tx,ty):t\in\mathbb{R}\}) and "(−y,x)(-y,x)-axes" (the line {(−ty,tx):t∈R}\{(-ty,tx):t\in\mathbb{R}\}) should also be orthogonal axes. (Note that we have not formally defined orthogonality yet; that will take place in the next section.)

Change of coordinates, and reflections over general lines

We can re-write (a,b)=a(1,0)+b(0,1)(a,b) = a(1,0)+b(0,1) in the form c(x,y)+d(−y,x)c(x,y)+d(-y,x) for some reals c,dc,d depending linearly on a,ba,b. It's just a system of linear equations: cx−dy=acx - dy = a and cy+dx=bcy + dx = b is equivalent to c=ax+byx2+y2c = \frac{ax+by}{x^2+y^2} and d=−ay+bx(−y)2+x2d = \frac{-ay+bx}{(-y)^2+x^2}.

In other words, the point (a,b)(a,b) in the (1,0),(0,1)(1,0),(0,1)-axes system is the same as ax+byx2+y2(x,y)+−ay+bxx2+y2(−y,x)\frac{ax+by}{x^2+y^2}(x,y) + \frac{-ay+bx}{x^2+y^2}(-y,x) in the (x,y),(−y,x)(x,y),(-y,x)-axes system.

This also allows us to define reflections easily, as in the case of x,yx,y-axes before: the reflection of (a,b)(a,b) over the line {(tx,ty)}\{(tx,ty)\} is just ax+byx2+y2(x,y)−−ay+bxx2+y2(−y,x)\frac{ax+by}{x^2+y^2}(x,y) - \frac{-ay+bx}{x^2+y^2}(-y,x), where we've just negated the (−y,x)(-y,x) coordinate.

Type a concept, like “slope” or “photosynthesis”.

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