Vectors and the Geometry of

Space
Chapter 1
 Vector and its Operations
Lesson 1

Objective:
At the end of the lesson you should be able to:
1. Define vector.
2. Find a vector , its magnitude and its direction.
3. Use the fundamental operations of vectors.
 Vectors
Definition:
Vector is a quantity with magnitude and direction.
Example: displacement, velocity , weight, force
How to find a vector?
1. Given two points in the xy-plane
P1 ( x1 , y1 ) , P2 ( x2 , y2 )
v   ( x2  x1 ), ( y2  y1 )    a , b 

2. Given two points in the xyz-plane

P1 ( x1 , y1 , z1 ) , P2 ( x2 , y2 , z 2 )
v   ( x2  x1 ), ( y2  y1 ) , ( z2  z1 )    a , b , c 

UTP/JBJ 1
The components of the vector in the two dimensional
space are a and b. While in the three dimensional space,
the components are a, b, and c.

Addition of Vectors (Graphical Method)

1. Triangle Law 2. Parallelogram Law

u+v u
v
v u+v
u v
u
The sum is the resultant vector.
UTP/JBJ 2
Addition/Subtraction of Vectors (Analytical Method)
Given two vectors a and b where a =< a1 , a2 > and b= < b1 ,b2 >
a+b= < a1  b1 , a2  b2> and b-a=< b1  a1 , b2  a2 >
Likewise if a = < a1 , a2 , a3 > and b = < b1 , b2 , b3 >
a+b=< a1  b1 , a2  b2 , a3  b3 > and b-a= < b1  a1 , b2  a2 , b3  a3 >
Magnitude of a Vector
The magnitude or length is indicated as
v  (a1 ) 2  (a2 ) 2 , v   a1 , a2 
v  (a1 ) 2  (a2 ) 2  (a3 ) 2 , v   a1 , a2 , a3 

For two and three dimensional vectors respectively.

UTP/JBJ 4
Multiplication by a Scalar (c)
A vector can be multiplied by a scalar quantity c . If vector
a=< a1 , a2 > then ca = < ca1 , ca2> or if vector
a= <a1 , a2 , a3 > then ca = <ca1 , ca2 , ca3 >.

Properties of Vectors
1. a+b= b +a 2. a+(b+c)= (a+b)+c
3. a+0= a 4. a+(-a) = 0
5. 1a=a 6. c(a+b)= ca + cb

UTP/JBJ 5
 The Forms of a Vector

A vector in two dimensional takes the i and j form . For

example, a = 2i – 4j, in component form this can be
written as, a= <2, -4> .
A vector in three dimensional space takes the i, j, and k
form. For example, a = -3i + 6 j- k , in component form
this can be written as, a = < -3, 6, -1>.
Any vector can be represented by a small bold letter or it
could be represented by a with an arrow above the
letter.

UTP/JBJ 6
 Examples
1. Given are two points C and D

a) C( 3,-5) and D( -6, 2)

b) b) C ( 1, 3, 4) and D ( 5 , -1, 0)
find the components of the vector CD and its
magnitude.
a) v = <(-6-3), (2-[-5])> = <-9, 7> = -9i + 7j

v  (9) 2  7 2  130

b) v= < (5-1), (-1-3),(0-4)>= < 4, -4, -4> = 4i- 4j- 4k

v  4 2  (4) 2  ( 4) 2  4 3
UTP/JBJ 7
 Examples

2. Given a= < 1, 2, 3> and b = < -1, 3, -6> find the

following:
2
a) 2a +b b) 3 b

Solution:
a) 2a + b = 2<1,2,3> + <-1,3,-6> = <2-1, 4+3, 6-6> = <1,7,0>

b) 2 b  2   1, 3 ,6     2 , 2,4 
3 3 3

Solve 21 and 22 on page 841!!

UTP/JBJ 8
 Unit Vector

Definition
A unit vector (u) is a vector whose length is one. For
instance, i , j , and k are all unit vectors.
In general if a # 0 then the unit vector that has the same
direction as a is
1 a
u 
a a

Do problems 24 and 25 on page 841

UTP/JBJ 9
 Example 1: Unit Vector

Find the unit vector that has the same direction as the given
vector:
a) v = < 3,-6 > b) a= 5j- k
Solution
a) 1  3,  6 
u  3,6  
 3,  6  45
1  0, 5,1 
b) u  0, 5,1  
 0, 5,  1  26

UTP/JBJ 10
 The Dot Product
Definition
If a =  a1 , a2 , a3  and b =  b1 , b2 , b3  then the dot
product of a and b is given by
a  b   a1 , a2 , a3    b1 , b2 , b3 
a  b  a1b1  a2b2  a3b3

Example 2: Give the dot product of the following:

a)  4, 8    1, 5 
b)  2,  3, 6    3,1,  4  .

UTP/JBJ 11
Answers:
a)  4, 8    1,5   4(1)  8(5)  36

b)  2,  3, 6    3,1,4   2(3)  ( 3)1  6(4)

 6  3  24
  21

Solve more problems on page 848

UTP/JBJ 12
 Angle Formed Between Two Vectors

Theorem
If  is the angle between the vectors a and b, then

a  b  a b cos 

Corollary
If  is the angle between the nonzero vectors a and
b, then
ab
cos  
a b

UTP/JBJ 13
 Direction Angles and Direction Cosines of a Vector

Definition
The direction angle of a nonzero vector a are the
angles  ,  , and  in the interval [ 0,  ] that a makes
with the positive x, y, and z axes.
z


y

x

UTP/JBJ 14
Use the following formulas to find the direction cosines

a1 a2 a3
cos   , cos   , cos  
a a a
where a   a1 , a2 , a3 

and the direction angles are

1 a1 1 a2 1 a3
  cos ,   cos ,   cos
a a a

UTP/JBJ
15
 Example 3: Angle Between Two Vectors

1. Find the angle between the two vectors a = < 1, -2, 3 >
and b = < 0, 5 , 9 >.
Solution
a b 1,2,3    0,5,9 
cos   
a b 12  (2) 2  32 0  52  9 2
0  10  27 17
cos     0.40
14 106 42.45
  cos 1 0.40  73.80

UTP/JBJ 16
 Example 4: Direction Angles

2. Find the direction angles of vector b = 3 i + 4j + 5 k.

Solution

b   3, 4 , 5 
1 3 1 3
  cos  cos
32  4 2  5 2 50
  cos 1 0.424  650

What are the values of  and  ?

UTP/JBJ 17
 Your Answers?

1 4
  cos  55.50
7.07

1 5
  cos  cos 1 0.707  450
7.07

UTP/JBJ 18
 Orthogonal Vector

Definition
Two vectors a and b are orthogonal if a  b  0.

Recall that a  b  a b cos  and if the angle is

90 degrees its cosine is 0 hence the dot product between
vectors a and b is 0.

Look at some examples!!

UTP/JBJ 19
 Example 5: Orthogonal and Parallel Vectors

Find out whether the two vectors are orthogonal or parallel.

1. a = <-1, 2 5 > and b = <3, 4 , -1 >
2. u = < 1,-1,2 > and v = <2, -1,1 >
Solution
1. The two vectors are not parallel ( parallel only if they
have the same direction i.e., the components of the
vectors are the same or b=ka ).
a  b    1,2,5    3,4,1   3  8  5  0
The two vectors are orthogonal.

UTP/JBJ 20
2. u  v  1,1,2    2,1,1  2  1  2  5

The two vectors are not orthogonal neither they are

parallel.
Remember!
The dot product is a scalar.

Do some more problems on page 849 nos.

23 a, d and 24 a , c.

UTP/JBJ
21
 Cross Product

Definition
If a =  a1 , a2 , a3  and b=  b1 , b2 , b3  then the cross
product of a and b is the vector
i j k
a1 a2 a3
a  b   a1 , a2 , a3    b1 , b2 , b3  
b1 b2 b3

a  b  i (a2b3  a3b2 )  j (a1b3  a3b1 )  k (a1b2  a2b1 )

a  b   a2b3  a3b2 ,  a1b3  a3b1 , a1b2  a2b1 

UTP/JBJ 22
Theorem
If  is the angle between a and b then a  b  a b sin  .

The cross product is the vector that is perpendicular to

both a and b.
Corollary
Two nonzero vectors are parallel if and only if a  b 0
Take note that if   0 or    sine of these angles are 0.
Also the magnitude of the cross product is equal to the
area of the parallelogram determined by a and b.

UTP/JBJ 23
 Using Figure 1, A = a ( b sin  )  a  b

b b sin 

a
Figure 1

For a parallelepiped (rectangular solid) volume is

determined by using scalar triple product i.e.,
V  a  (b  c)
If V = 0, then three vectors are co-planar.
UTP/JBJ 24
 Example 6: Cross Product

1. Find the cross product given a = <1,2,0 > and

b = <0,3, 1>.Verify whether it is orthogonal to both a and b.
Solution i j k
a  b   1,2,0    0,3,1  1 2 0
031
a  b  i (2  0)  j (1  0)  k (3  0)  2i  j  3k

Then to verify whether orthogonal to both a and b,

( a  b)  a  ( a  b)  b  0
 2,1,3    1,2,0    2,1,3    0,3,1 
2 2 0  033
00
UTP/JBJ 25
2. Find the volume using the scalar triple product given
a = i + j –k , b = i- j + k and c = -i + j + k.
Solution
1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1
a  (b  c)  1  1 1  1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1
a  (b  c)   2  2  0  4

The volume of the parallelepiped is 4 cu. units.

More problems can be found on page 857. Practice

by solving some of them!

UTP/JBJ 26
 Torque

Torque is the turning effect when a force is acting on a

rigid body at a point given by a position vector r.It is defined
to be the cross product of the position and force vectors
i.e.,   rF
  r  F  r F sin 

UTP/JBJ
27
 Example 7: Torque

A bicycle pedal is pushed by a foot with a 60 N force as

shown. The shaft of the pedal is 18 cm long. Find the
magnitude of the torque about P.

60 N
100
P
  0.18 m 60 N sin(700  100 ) P
  0.18(60) sin 800  10.64 Nm  10.64 Joules

Solve 36 and 37 on page 857!

UTP/JBJ 28