HOW CAN I PROGRAME THIS?

Pick two points on a surface (x1,y1) and (x2,y2). From selected position first one moves with the speed (vecotr)v=(v1,v2) and the other one with the speed of (vector)u=(u1,u2).

If points are getting close figure out when and where they are in the moment when they are the closest. Also computer must tell, if they are moving away. Plot graph of distnace in time between the 2 vectors.

A starting point of the first one is (0.4,603)m and the starting point of the secon one is (23,-908)m. Speed of first is vector(v)=(-0.1,-0.98)m/s and the second: vector(u)=(-0.2,1.1)m/s.

PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS. THANK YOU

[John Petersen]

Do you need help with the equations or the code?

[Jan]

Is the surface flat? If so, the problem is to find the minimum distance between to lines.

Answer 1

[Eoin]

It depends on how fancy you need to be...

you could do something like

    dt = 1;
    R1 = [X1 Y1]; V = [V1 V2];
    R2 = [X2 Y2]; U = [U1 U2];
    oldD = 999;
    while(true)
      R1 = R1+V*dt
      R2 = R2+U*dt
      D = sqrt(sum(R1-R2).^2);
      if (D>oldD)
         break;   % This will make the loop stop when the distance between the points starts to increase
      end
      oldD = D;
    end

More fancy would be to use an ordinary differential equation solver like ode45.

Plotting is left for you ;)