Lecture 2: Vector-Vector Operations

• Vector-Vector Operations
• Addition of two vectors
• Geometric representation of addition and subtraction of vectors
• Vectors and points
• Dot product of two vectors
• Geometric interpretation of the dot product of two vectors
• Computation of Dot product
• Dot product of perpendicular vectors
• Dot product of a vector with itself
• Examples: Decomposition of force vectors, Decomposition of a vector into orthogonal components,
coordinates of a point in an orthogonal coordinate system.
• Cross product of two three dimensional vectors (Self-study)
• Geometric interpretation of a cross product
• Area of a triangle
• Cross product of orthogonal and parallel vectors
• Scalar Triple Product (Self-study)
• Geometric interpretation of a scalar triple product
• Volume of a parallelepiped

1
Vector-Vector Operations
• Vector addition (and subtraction)
• 𝒂 + 𝒃, 𝒂 − 𝒃
• Vector Multiplication
• Dot Product: 𝒂 & 𝒃
• Cross Product: 𝒂×𝒃

2
Vector Addition (Page 26)
• Two vector can be added only if they have the same dimension.
• The corresponding components of the two vector are added together.
• Two vector can be subtracted in the same way of adding, by
subtracting components.
• Example:
2 1 3
• + =
1 −1 0

1 2 1− 2 1− 2
• 0 − 1 = 0−1 = −1
−1 0 −1 − 0 −1

3
When can two vectors be added?
• Only if two vectors have the same dimension they can be added.
• Row vectors and column vectors of the same dimension can be
added.
• Example:
• 1 + 0 = 1
2 3
• 1 2 + = 3 0 =
−2 0
2
0
• + 0.5 = ?
−1
1

4
How to represent addition of two vectors
graphically (Ch. 1.3 P. 26)
• Draw one vector.
• Draw the other vector.
• Draw one vector along the diagonal of the parallelogram formed by
P1 and P2.
P1+P2 (4,3)
• Example:
P2 (1,2)
3 1 4
• + =
1 2 3
P1 (3,1)

5
How to represent addition of three vectors
graphically
• Another way to add multiple vectors graphically is to link the tail of
one vector with the head of another vector as shown below.
• The final vector is obtained by connecting the origin and the head of
the last vector.
P1+P2 + P3 (4,3)
• Example:
P3 (0,1)
3 1 0 4
• + + = P2 (1,0)
2 0 1 3
P1 (3,2)

6
How to represent subtraction of two vectors
graphically (Ch. 1.3 P. 26)
• Draw one vector.
• Draw the other vector.
• Draw one vector originated at the tail of the first vector, and ends at
the tail of the second vector.
• Example:
P2 (1,2)
1 3 −2
• − = P2 – P1 (-2,1)
2 1 1
P1 (3,1)

7
How to compute vector between points?
• Given two points 𝑃2 = (𝑥2 , 𝑦2 , 𝑧2 )and 𝑃8 = 𝑥8 , 𝑦8 , 𝑧8
𝑥2
• The vector to 𝑃2 from the origin 𝑖𝑠 𝒗2 = 𝑦2 and vector to 𝑃8 from
𝑧2
𝑥8
the origin is 𝒗8 = 𝑦8 B (3,3)
𝑧8 𝑨𝑩 (2,2)
𝑥8 − 𝑥2
• The vector from 𝑃2 to 𝑃8 is 𝒗8 -𝒗2 = 𝑦8 − 𝑦2
𝑧8 − 𝑧2 A (1,1)

8
Algebraic Properties of vector addition and
subtraction

9
What is a dot product (Inner product)?
• Dot product or Inner product of vectors 𝒂 and 𝒃 is represented as:
• 𝒂&𝒃=𝑠
• Dot product of two vectors results in a scalar.
• Multiply the corresponding components of the two vectors
• The dot product equals to the result of addition of all the multiplied components
𝑎2 𝑏2
• 𝑎8 & 𝑏8 = 𝑎2 𝑏2 + 𝑎8 𝑏8 + 𝑎J 𝑏J .
𝑎J 𝑏J
• Example:
1
• 2 1 & =2−1=1
−1
3 2
• −1 & 1 = 3×2 + −1 ×1 + 0× 2 = 5
0 2

10
How to dot two vectors
• Dot product can be computed only between vectors of same
dimension.
• Dot product is commutative
• 𝒂&𝒃=𝒃&𝒂
3 2 2 3
• −1 & 1 = 1 & −1 = 3×2 + −1 ×1 + 0× 2 = 5
0 2 2 0

11
Geometric interpretation of a dot product
• The result of a dot product of vectors is a scalar, and cannot be depicted as a
vector.
• However, this scalar value is proportional to the cosine of the angle between the
vectors.
• So dot product can be computed in two different ways. One as the sum of the
product of the corresponding components as mentioned earlier, and the other as
𝒂&𝒃= 𝒂 𝒃 cos 𝜃
• Both computation methods will yield the same result.
• Example:
3 ,𝒃 = 0 ,
• 𝒂=
1 2
𝒃 𝜃
• 𝒂 & 𝒃 = 2×2× cos 60° = 2
0 𝒂
• By earlier approach, 𝒂 & 𝒃 = 3 & = 0+2=2
1 2
12
Geometric interpretation of a dot product
• 𝒂 & 𝒃 = 𝒂 𝒃 cos 𝜃
• What if 𝒂 is a unit vector ( 𝒂 =1)
• 𝒂 & 𝒃 would be the length of the perpendicular projection of 𝒃 on 𝒂

• Vector 𝒄 is the image of 𝒃 on 𝒂

• Direction of 𝒄 is the same as 𝒂 𝒃
• Magnitude of 𝒄 is 𝜃 𝒂
𝒂&𝒃
• 𝒄 = 𝒃 cos 𝜃 =
𝒂
𝒄
13
Dot product with itself
• From the geometrical representation of dot product it is inferred that
the dot product of a vector with itself is its squared magnitude
𝒂 & 𝒂 = 𝒂 𝒂 cos 0° = 𝒂 8
• Now if the vector is a unit vector its dot product with itself equals to 1
R&𝒂
𝒂 R= 𝒂 R 𝒂 R cos 0° = 1
• Example:
2 8
• 𝒂= , 𝒂 & 𝒂 = 28 + −1 8 = 5 = 28 + −1 8
−1
0.6
R=
• 𝒂 ,𝒂R&𝒂 R = 0.68 + 0.88 = 1 = 1×1
0.8

14
Dot product of perpendicular vectors
• From the geometric representation of dot product, it is inferred that
the dot product of two perpendicular vector is equal to zero, since
cos 90° = 0 .
• Example:
2 −1
• 𝒂= ,𝒃 =
2 1

• 𝒂 & 𝒃 = 2× −1 + 2×1 = 0
• 𝒂 & 𝒃 = 8× 2× cos 90° = 0

15
Application of Dot product

• Decomposition of a vector into its orthogonal components.

• b = 𝑏 cos 𝜃 𝑋V + 𝑏 sin 𝜃 𝑌V
𝒀

𝒃 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽
𝒃
𝜃
𝒃 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝜽 𝑿
 What is the cross product
• Cross product is computed between (N-1) vectors in a 𝑁-D space, where
𝑁≥3
• The result of cross product is a vector in 𝑁-D space. Hence it is also called
vector product.
• The cross product vector is perpendicular to all the (N-1) vectors used to
compute it.
• Let, a = [a1, a2, a3] & b = [b1, b2, b3] then,

a x b = [ a2b3 – a3b2, a3b1 - a1b3, a1b2 - a2b1]

( we will discuss about this again when we study determinants. )

17
 Geometric interpretation of cross product
• a x b = 𝒂 𝒃 sin 𝜃𝑛c, where 𝜃 is the angle between the two vectors
and 𝑛c is a unit vector representing the direction of the resultant vector.
• Direction of a x b is perpendicular to both vectors a and b following the right hand
rule.
• |a x b| represents the area of the parallelogram determined by these vectors as
adjacent sides.

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Cross product (using Determinants)
EXAMPLE 1 Compute u ! v and v ! u for u = h2; 3; 5i and v =
h6; 7; 9i :

Solution: To do so, we construct the vector of determinants in (2),

"! ! ! ! ! !#
! 3 5 ! ! 5 2 ! ! 2 3 !
u ! v = !! !;!
! !
!;!
! !
!
7 9 9 6 6 7 !

and then we use (1) to evaluate

1 the determinants:

u ! v = h3 # 9 $ 7 # 5; 5 # 6 $ 9 # 2; 2 # 7 $ 6 # 3i = h$8; 12; $4i (3)

Notice however that v ! u is

!" " " " " "#
" 7 9 " " 9 6 "" "" 6 7 ""
v ! u = "" ";" ; = h8; $12; 4i
3 5 " " 5 2 " " 2 3 "

That is, v ! u = $ (u ! v), which can be shown to be true in general. Indeed,

each of the following follow from direct calculation.
Cross product (using Determinants)
• Taking the dot product of u x v with either u or v results in a zero
vector. This proves that u x v is orthogonal to both u and v.

−8, 12, −4 & 2, 3, 5 = 0, 0, 0

−8, 12, −4 & 6, 7, 9 = [0, 0, 0]

Cross product of parallel vectors
• From the geometrical representation of cross product it is inferred
that the cross product of parallel vectors is a zero vector
a x b = 𝒂 𝒃 sin 0° = 0

• i.e. cross product of a vector with itself is zero vector

a x a = 𝒂 𝒂 sin 0° = 0

21
Cross product of orthogonal vectors
• From the geometric representation of cross product, it is inferred that
the cross product of two orthogonal vector is the product of their
magnitude.
a x b = 𝒂 𝒃 sin 90° = 𝒂 𝒃

22
Application of Cross product

• To find the area of a triangle.

2
Area of triangle = h |B| A
8
2
= |A| sinθ |B| h
8
2 q
= |AxB|
8 O
B
 Application of Cross product
P2 (4; 4) ; and P3 (6; 1) :

• Example of Area of Triangle

Find the area of triangle with vertices
P1 (2,2), P2(4,4) and P3(6,1) :

Solution: It is easy to see that u = h2; 2i and v = h4; #1i. As

vectors in R3 , we have u = h2; 2; 0i and v = h4; #1; 0i : Thus, their
cross product is
!" " " " " "#
" 2 0 " " 0 2 " " 2 2 "
u$v = " " " " " "
" 4 0 " ; " 0 #1 " ; " 4 #1 "
= h0; 0; 2 % (#1) # 4 % 2 i
= h0; 0; #10i
Since the triangle has half of the area of the parallelogram formed
Note the area of the parallelogram formed by u and v; the area of the triangle is
q
by u and v will be 2 * 5 units2 = 10units2 Area = ku $ vk =
1 2
02 + 02 + (#10) = 5 units2
2
Algebraic Properties of dot and cross
products
Dot Product vs Cross Product
Dot product Cross product
Result of a dot product is a scalar Result of a cross product is a vector
quantity. quantity.
It follows commutative law. It doesn’t follow commutative law.
Dot product of vectors in the same Cross product of vectors in same
direction is maximum. direction is zero.
Dot product of orthogonal vectors is Cross product of orthogonal vectors is
zero. maximum.
It doesn’t follow right hand system. It follows right hand system.
It is used to find projection of vectors. It is used to find a third vector.
It is represented by a dot (.) It is represented by a cross (x)
 Scalar Triple Product
• Scalar triple product of vectors a, b, c is referred to as 𝑎 & 𝑏 𝑥 𝑐
• Geometrically it represents the volume of a parallelopiped

Volume of the parallelepiped

= (height H) (area of the parallelogram L)

= (|a 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝜽|) (| b x c |)
H
= |a| (| b x c |) |𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝜽|
L
= |a . ( b x c ) |
 Scalar Triple Product
which is known as the triple scalar product. Equivalently, V olume = j(u " v) # wj

EXAMPLE 7 Find the volume of the parallelpiped spanned by

u = h2; 0; 0i ; v = h1; 3; 0i, and w = h1; 0; 3i. The Ögure below is
drawn as if all vectors have their initial points at the origin.

The dot product with w yields the volume:

V olume = j(u " v) # wj = jh1; 0; 3i # h0; 0; 6ij = 18

Solution: The cross product of u and v is

!" " " " " "#
" 0 0 " " 0 2 " " 2 0 "
u " v = "" ";" ";" " = h0; 0; 6i
3 0 " " 0 1 " " 1 3 "
Exercises