How to find the minimum coordinate in a plane

Is DOT essentially doing a 3D Distance? And would you do that function first or after the MININDEX where the generic point is PNT1?

The dot product is going to give the distance from a point to a plane that lies at the origin perpendicular to a vector. The plane in this case will be parallel to PLN1. Subtracting that distance from the distance of the point to the perpendicular plane leaves the distance between the point and the plane only in that direction. It is a 2d distance that lies in a plane perpendicular to PLN1 and through PNT1. You would calculate distances with the function and then find the smallest or largest depending on the application. This is how you find distance of points from a plane even if the plane is not square to an axis.

You can level to the plane, set an origin, and then check axis values. You should get the same numbers. You could also construct a 3d line perpendicular to the plane and through the point, create an intersection point with the line and plane, and check the 3d straight line distance between points.

All of them are viable solutions. I just find the mathematical methods to be easier to understand what a program is doing when reading through it offline, rather than a bunch of "measure, measure, construct, construct, report" etc.