Vector Lesson

VECTORS
Concept of a vector
Representing a vector
Types of vectors
Equal vectors
Inverse or equal and opposite vectors
Parallel vectors
Adding & subtracting vectors
Position vectors & Displacement vectors
Vectors
 Concept of a Vector
 Representation of Vectors
 Types of Vectors
 Magnitude/Length of a Vector
 Vector Algebra
 Use Triangle & Parallelogram Law to add
Vectors
 Position Vectors
 Displacement vectors
 Collinearity
Concept of a vector
 Physical quantities can be divided into two types: scalar and
vector.
 Scalar – fully described by magnitude only. E.g. speed, mass,

distance.
 Vector –fully described by magnitude and direction. E.g.

velocity, weight, displacement.
Vector representation
 Vector representation and naming – since a vector quantity

has both magnitude and direction it can be represented by a
segment of a line. The length of the line segment represents
the magnitude of the vector. The direction of the arrow shows
the direction of the vector.
Vector representation
 7m/s in SE direction 20 N south
5km due west

Naming a vector
 The name of a vector maybe represented by a) capital letters

AB or or b) common letters a or or
 AB means the vector starts at A and moves to B the end point.

Representation on graph paper
 On graph paper vectors are represented as a directed line

segment that begins at a location and ends at another
location. To determine where a vector stops we use the
components of the vector. The components of the vector are
in form of a column matrix or column vector.
 .
 where x represents
movement in the horizontal
direction and y represents
movement in the vertical
direction.
 For example if , this can be

represented as shown.
 Identify the vectors given
their components:
m
k
Represent these on graph paper (or coordinate
plane)
Relations between vectors
Types of vectors
 Free vectors
 Special types of vectors: equal, parallel and inverse vectors
 Position vectors
 Displacement vectors
 Unit vectors
Free Vectors
 Vectors that have no particular starting point are known as
free vectors.
Equal vectors
 Two or more vectors are equal if they have the same
magnitude and direction
Inverse or negative or equal & opposite vectors
 Two or more vectors are inverse vectors if they have the same
magnitude but different directions
Parallel vectors
 Two or more vectors are parallel if they are scalar multiples of
each other.
 If a vector TS = & another vector KW =
 TS is parallel to KW as TS = 3 KW.
 This can also be stated as KW is parallel to TS

Magnitude of a vector
(it is the length of the line segment representing the vector)

Magnitude of a vector
 LM = then == units
 If = then =
 If = then =
Vectors as translations
 Vectors can be used to describe translations. Firstly, any point
can be represented by a column vector by changing the
orientation. This shows the movement from the origin to the
point .
 For example: the points are shown on the next slide.

G(-5,2)
( )
−𝟓
𝟐
F(0,3) ( )
𝟎
𝟑
H(4,-1)
( )
𝟒
−𝟏
Example of vector as translations
 Given that the vector translates the point to the point , find
the coordinates of the end point
 Using the equation: we can determine the end point .

Practice vector questions
Vector operations of scalar multiplication,
addition & subtraction
 A vector can be multiplied by a real number called a scalar.
This can demonstrated algebraically as well as geometrically.
 Vectors can also be added or subtracted algebraically and

geometrically.
Vector algebra: scalar multiplication
 When a vector is multiplied by a
scalar each component of the
vector is multiplied by the scalar. L M
 For example: if
( )
6
0
 Similarly, if
( 3
−2 )
Vector geometry: scalar multiplication
 When a vector is multiplied by a
scalar the length or magnitude of
the vector will change. ( )
1 .5
−1
 For example: if
 will be half the size of

 - will be half the size of but pointing in ( 3
−2 )
the opposite direction. 𝒎
Vector algebra: addition and subtraction
 For example:
 Using operations in
and find:
matrices, vectors can be a) 2
added or subtracted by
adding or subtracting the
corresponding components
Questions
Vector geometry: addition & subtraction
 Vectors can be added or subtracted geometrically by the use

of two laws: the triangle law and the parallelogram law.
Triangle law
Triangle law
 The (vector) sum or resultant of any two vectors is equal to

the length and direction of the line needed to complete a
triangle. Resultant goes in the opposite direction to the
starting vectors
Triangle law
 JP + PT = JT
 Used when vectors meet head to tail or vice versa

Questions
Parallelogram law
Parallelogram law
 If two vectors are going in different directions, i.e. one

clockwise and the other counter clockwise, then the resultant
vector can be obtained by completing a parallelogram.
 Used when vectors meet head to head or tail to tail

Parallelogram law
 JP + TP = cannot be done
 Hence, 2 more vectors are introduced to the mix which are
equal in length and direction (parallel) as the starting vectors.
 A diagonal of the parallelogram which will complete a triangle
will show the resultant (sum) of the vectors .
 Used when vectors meet head to head or tail to tail

Vector subtraction
 To subtract 2 vectors we
add to one the inverse
vector of the other
 For example: to add vectors

a and b we simply apply the
triangle rule. To subtract a
and b i.e. a – b, we do the
same but add a to –b.
Practice
 Consider the shape below  Which single vector is
A equivalent to:
C
B
Practice
 Consider the shape below  Which single vector is
equivalent to:
B
C
A
D
Position vectors
 The position vector of a point A is the vector from the origin

to A, i.e. OA.
 Any point can be changed into a position vector by changing

the coordinates to a column matrix
 Position vectors are very useful in solving vector problems

and forming displacement vectors.
G(-5,2)
( )
−𝟓
𝟐
F(0,3) ( )
𝟎
𝟑
H(4,-1)
( )
𝟒
−𝟏
Angle between a vector and the x-axis
 The angle between a vector and the positive side of the x-axis
is given by the formula: where represent the components of
the vector.
 =
Practice
Practice
Displacement vectors
 A displacement vector is any vector which describes the

movement from one point to another
 The starting point is not the origin

Practice questions
Collinearity
 Collinear means that points lie on the same straight line
 Points are said to be collinear if:
◦ Two vectors formed from the points are parallel
◦ The vectors share a common point
◦ If BC = kAB then A, B and C are collinear.

Collinearity
 Collinear vectors are vectors that are on a straight line or are

vectors that lie on a straight line. To prove that vectors are
collinear we need to prove that they are parallel and that they
share a common point.

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VECTORS

 Scalar – fully described by magnitude only. E.g. speed, mass,

 Vector –fully described by magnitude and direction. E.g.

 Vector representation and naming – since a vector quantity

5km due west

 The name of a vector maybe represented by a) capital letters

 AB means the vector starts at A and moves to B the end point.

 On graph paper vectors are represented as a directed line

 For example if , this can be

 If a vector TS = & another vector KW =

 This can also be stated as KW is parallel to TS

(it is the length of the line segment representing the vector)

 For example: the points are shown on the next slide.

 Using the equation: we can determine the end point .

 Vectors can also be added or subtracted algebraically and

 will be half the size of

 Vectors can be added or subtracted geometrically by the use

 The (vector) sum or resultant of any two vectors is equal to

 Used when vectors meet head to tail or vice versa

 If two vectors are going in different directions, i.e. one

 Used when vectors meet head to head or tail to tail

 Used when vectors meet head to head or tail to tail

 For example: to add vectors

 The position vector of a point A is the vector from the origin

 Any point can be changed into a position vector by changing

 Position vectors are very useful in solving vector problems

 A displacement vector is any vector which describes the

 The starting point is not the origin

 Collinear means that points lie on the same straight line

 Points are said to be collinear if:

◦ Two vectors formed from the points are parallel

◦ The vectors share a common point

◦ If BC = kAB then A, B and C are collinear.

 Collinear vectors are vectors that are on a straight line or are

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