Real-Time Collision Detection

Chapter 3

A Math and Geometry Primer

Collision detection is an area of a very geometric nature. For example, in a world simulation both world and objects of that world are represented as geometrical entities such as polygons, spheres, and boxes. To implement efficient intersection tests for these entities, a thorough grasp of vectors, matrices, and linear algebra in general is required. Although this book assumes the reader already has some experience with these topics, the coverage in this chapter is provided for convenience, serving as a quick review of relevant concepts, definitions, and identities used throughout the book. The presentation is intended as an informal review, rather than a thorough formal treatment. Those readers interested ...