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Vector Operations and Properties

This document discusses vector operations including addition, subtraction, and multiplication of vectors. It describes two methods for adding vectors - the polygon method and parallelogram method. Vector subtraction is defined as adding the opposite of one vector. Multiplying a vector by a scalar changes the vector's length and/or direction depending on whether the scalar is positive or negative. The document also lists properties that vector operations satisfy such as commutativity, associativity, and distributivity.

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Emina Daff
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28 views12 pages

Vector Operations and Properties

This document discusses vector operations including addition, subtraction, and multiplication of vectors. It describes two methods for adding vectors - the polygon method and parallelogram method. Vector subtraction is defined as adding the opposite of one vector. Multiplying a vector by a scalar changes the vector's length and/or direction depending on whether the scalar is positive or negative. The document also lists properties that vector operations satisfy such as commutativity, associativity, and distributivity.

Uploaded by

Emina Daff
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Vector operations

Addition, subtraction and multiplication of


a vector

Addition of vectors

Let and be two vectors in a plane. +


denotes the sum of the vectors and .
There are two ways to find the sum of
two or more vectors:
1. The Polygon Method
2. The Parallelogram Method

1. The Polygon Method


Let
the
at
(=

and be two vectors in a plane, as in


diagram. We place the initial point of
the terminal point of to make
)

2. The Parallelogram
Method
In the parallelogram method for vector
addition, the vectors are moved to a
common origin and the parallelogram
constructed as follows:

Example 1:

Find + + in the figure:

Solution:

Properties of Vectore
Addition:
1.
The sum of any two vectors in P is also a
vector in P (closure property).
2. The sum of any two vectors in P is
commutative (commutative property).
3. The sum of any three vectors in P is
associative (associative property).
4. The sum of the zero vector and a vector in P
is the vector itself (identity element).
5. The additive inverse of any vector is : + ()
= 0 (additive inverse)

2. Subtraction of vectors
Since subtraction is the inverse of
addition, we can find the difference of
two vectors and by adding the vectors
and (opposite of ) using either the
parallelogram method ( - + ()) or the
polygon method.

Multiplication of a vector
by scalar
Multiplying a vector by a scalar makes
the vector longer or shorter depending
on the value of the scalar.
If the scalar is greater than 1 or less than
1, multiplying makes a longer vector.
If the scalar is between 1 and 1 and nonzero, it makes a shorter vector

If the scalar is positive, multiplying does


not change the direction.
If the scalar is negative, multiplying will
make the vectors direction opposite.
For a real number a and a vector ,
1. if a> 0 then vector a has the same
direction as and the length |a| = a||
2. if a< 0 then vector a has the opposite
direction to and the length |a| = |a|||
3. if a= 0 then a =

Properties of the
Multiplication of a Vector
by a Scalar

For
any vectors , , and and real numbers a

and b, the following properties are satisfied:

1. a is a vector in the plane


2. (ab) = a(b)
3. (a+b) = a + b
4. a(+) = a+ b
5. 1
6. a =

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