Chapter 8 Vectors review

Vectors and directed intervals

 A directed interval ⃑
AB , or directed line segment, with tail A and head B is the interval AB
together with the direction from A to B. Its length is ¿ AB∨¿.

 A vector a or a combines a length and a direction. It is represented by any directed interval

⃗
AB with that length and direction, and we then write a=⃗ AB.
 The length of a vector a is written as |a|.

Opposite vectors, parallel vectors, and the zero vector

 The opposite of a vector a=⃗
AB is the vector −a=⃗
BA with the same length and the
opposite direction.

 Two vectors ⃗AB and ⃗ PQ are called parallel if the lines AB and PQ are parallel. Their
directions may be the same or opposite.

 The zero vector 0 has no length and no direction, and is the only vector that is its own
opposite. It is parallel to every vector.

Multiplying a vector by a scalar

A vector can be multiplied by a scalar, and for all vectors a and scalars λ and μ:

Multiplying by zero: 0 a=0

Multiplying by 1: 0 a=a
Multiplying by −1: (−1 ) a=−a
Associative law: λ (μ a)=( λμ)a
Lengths: |λ a|=|λ||a|
Parallels: λ a∥ a

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Vector addition and subtraction
 To construct the sum a+ b of two vectors a and b , place them head to tail as a=⃗
OA and
⃗ ⃗ ⃗
b= AB . Then a=OA + AS=OS ⃑

 Alternatively, represent them as ⃗

OA and ⃗
OB with a common tail O , and complete the
⃗
parallelogram OASB . Then a+ b=OS .

 To construct the difference a−b of two vectors a and b , represent them as a=⃗
OA and
⃗
b=OB with a common tail O .

Then the difference is the vector a−b=⃗

BA with tail B and head A .
 For all vectors a , b and c and all scalars λ∧μ:

Adding the zero vector: a+ 0=a

Adding the opposite: a+ (−a ) =0
Commutative law: a+ b=b+a
Associative law: ( a+ b ) +c=a+(b+c )
Two distributive laws: λ ( a+b ) =λ a+ λ b
( λ+ μ ) a=λ a+ μ a

An origin and position vectors

 Choose a convenient origin O as a reference point.

 Each point P in the plane then corresponds to the position vector ⃗

OP .
 Conversely, any vector a can be drawn as a position vector ⃗
OP , and thus corresponds to the
P
point at the head.

 Subtraction of position vectors is particularly straightforward, because they have a common

tail O .

Unit vectors
 A vector of length 1 is called a unit vector.

a
 If a ≠ 0, the vector a^ = is a unit vector with the same direction as a , and the vector
¿ a∨¿¿
−a
−^a = is a unit vector with the opposite direction.
¿ a∨¿¿

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Choosing a basis and an origin, and forming axes
 Choose any basis consisting of perpendicular unit vectors i and j .

 Choose any point O as the origin.

 The basis vectors can now be drawn as position vectors i=⃗

OI and j=⃗
OJ
 The basis and the origin thus form a pair of axes OI and OJ .

The components of a vector

Suppose that a basis and an origin have been chosen, and let u be any vector, represented as a
position vector u=⃗OP .
 Complete the rectangle OXPY , and let ⃗
OX =x i and ⃗
OY = y j
Then x and y are called the scalar components of the vector u, and

P= ( x , y )∧u=x i+ y j

 The last form is called the component form of the vector u, and the vectors ⃗
OX =x i and
⃗
OY = y j are called the vector components ofu.
 The rectangle OXPY represents u as the sum u=x i+ y j .

 The components are independent of the choice of origin O , but depend very much on the
choice of basis i and j .

Column vectors
 Each vector u=x1 i+ y 1 j can be written as a column vector

[] ()
u= x 1 ∨u= x 1 .
y1 y1

 The basis vectors are i= [ 10]∧ j=[ 01]

.

 Addition and multiplication by a scalar are done component-wise:

[ ][ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
x1 x x +x x
+ 2 = 1 2 ∧λ 1 =
y1 y2 y 1+ y 2 y1
λ x1
λ y1
.

 The vector ucan be written as a sum of the basis vectors as

u=
[ ][ ][ ] [] []
x1
y1
x
= 1+
0
0
y1
1 0
=x 1 + y 1 .
0 1

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Length and angle of position vectors

Let u=x i+ y j= [ xy] be a non-zero position vector relative to a chosen origin and basis, and let u

have trigonometric angle θ . Then:

 x=|u| cos θ and y=|u|sin θ

2 y
 |u| =x 2+ y 2 and tanθ= (the two answers for θ need to be distinguished).
x

The angle between two non-zero vectors

Represent two non-zero vectors a=⃗ OA and b=⃗ OB with a common tail. Then the non-reflex
angle ∠ AOB is called the angle between the two vectors.

The dot product or scalar product of two vectors – geometric formula

 Define the dot or scalar product a ∙ b of two vectors a and b as follows.

- If both vectors are non-zero and the angle between them is θ , define

a ∙ b=|a|×|b|× cos θ
- If a or b is the zero vector, define a ∙ b=0.

 For all vectors a and b and all scalars λ ,

Perpendicular: a ∙ b=0 if and only if a=0 or b=0 or a ⊥ b.

which means that |a|= √ a ∙ a .

2
Length: a ∙ a=|a| ,
Commutative law: a ∙ b=b ∙ a
Associative law: λ ( a∙ b )=( λ a ) . b

Distributive law: a ∙ ( b+ c ) =a ∙ b+a ∙ c

The dot product, the cosine rule and Pythagoras’ theorem

The cosine rule can be written in vector form as
2 2 2
|a−b| =|a| +|b| −2 a ∙ b
This can be solved for a ∙ b to obtain another formula for the dot product,
2 2 2
2 a ∙ b=|a| +|b| −|a−b|

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Thus the dot product is half the error term in Pythagoras’ theorem.

The dot product or scalar product – component form

Let u=x1 i+ y 1 j and v=x 2 i + y 2 j , where i and j are a basis.

 The dot product can be written using components as

u ∙ v=x 1 x 2 + y 1 y 2

 Alternatively, using column vector notation,

[ ][ ]
x1 x2
∙
y1 y2
=x 1 x 2+ y 1 y 2 .

 This component form of the dot product is equivalent to the geometric form, and either can
be taken as the definition of the dot product.

Writing the components of a vector using the dot product

 Let i and j be a chosen basis. Then

i∙ i= j∙ j=1∧i∙ j= j∙ i=0
 Let u=x i+ y j be any vector.

Then the scalar components of u are x=u ∙ i and y=u ∙ j , and

[ ]
u=( u∙ i ) i+ ( u ∙ j ) j , that is , u= u ∙i .
u∙ j

Projections
Let x=⃗
OX be a non-zero vector, and let u=⃗
PQ be any vector.
 To project u=⃗
PQ onto x , drop perpendiculars PM and QN to the line OX .

The projection of u onto x is proj x u=⃗

MN .

Projections – geometric formulae

Let u∧x=⃗
OX be non-zero vectors, and let θ be the angle between them.
Represent u=⃗
OA with tail at O , and drop the perpendicular AN to OX .

 The projection of u onto x is the vector proj x u=⃗

ON

 proj x u=(|u|cos θ ) ^x and proj x u has length |u||cos θ|

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Projections and the dot product - vector components
Let x=⃗
OX be a non-zero vector, and let u be a vector.
 The projection proj x u of u onto x can be expressed using the dot product,

u∙ x
proj x u=( u ∙ x^ ) ^x ∧proj x u= ×x
x∙ x
 Projection satisfies the two laws,

- proj x (λ u)=λ ( proj x u), for any scalar λ .

- proj x (u+v )= proj x u+ proj x v , for any other vector v .

 The vector components of u are the projections of u onto i and j ,

proji u= (u ∙ i ) i∧ proj j u=( u ∙ j ) j

Newton’s second law and the units of force

 One newton, written in symbols as 1 N , is the force required to accelerate a body at a rate of
2
1 m/s .
 Newton’s second law of motion says that

F=ma .
‘If a body of mass m kg is accelerating at a m/ s2, then the sum of all the forces acting on the
body has magnitude F=ma newtons, and acts in the same direction as the acceleration.’

 One kilogram weight is the downward force due to gravity on a mass of 1 kg at the Earth’s
surface.

 Acceleration due to gravity at the Earth’s surface has the symbol g, whose approximate
value is 9.8 m/ s2 (or 10 m/s 2 in round figures).

1
 One newton is therefore about kg weight – about the downward force due to gravity of a
10
100-gram apple on your open hand.

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