Elements of
Electromagnetics
Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 1
Vector Analysis
Prepared by: DAVE JOSEPH E. ESTRADA, [Link].
Physics Instructor, University of Science and
Technology of Southern Philippines – Main Campus
Learning Outcomes
In this chapter, you will learn…
• Differentiate scalar quantity and vector quantity, scalar
field and vector field.
• Perform vector addition and subtraction, determine the
position of the vector and distance vector.
• Perform vector multiplication: dot product, cross product
and apply it in determining the component of a vector.
• Perform vector multiplication: scalar triple product and
vector triple product.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Electromagnetics (EM) - may be regarded as the study of the
interactions between electric charges at rest and in motion. It
entails the analysis, synthesis, physical interpretation, and
application of electric and magnetic fields.
- is a branch of physics or electrical engineering in which electric
and magnetic phenomena are studied.
Examples are:
1.2 Maxwell’s Equation
The subject of electromagnetic phenomena in this book
can be summarized in Maxwell’s equations:
1.3 Scalars and Vectors
• A scalar is a quantity that has only magnitude.
- Quantities such as time, mass, distance, temperature, entropy, electric
potential, and population are scalars. A vector has not only magnitude,
but direction in space.
- Scalar is represented simply by a letter—for example, A, B, U, and V.
• A vector is a quantity that is described by both
magnitude and direction.
- A vector is represented by a letter with an arrow on top of it, such as or
• A field is a function that specifies a particular quantity
everywhere in a region.
1.4 Unit Vector
• A vector A has both magnitude and direction. The magnitude of
A is a scalar written as A or |A| . A unit vector along A is defined
as a vector whose magnitude is unity (i.e., 1) and its direction is
along A; that is,
• Note that 1. Thus, we may write A as
which completely specifies A in terms of its magnitude A and its
direction . A vector A in Cartesian (or rectangular) coordinates may
be represented as
The magnitude of vector A is
given by:
and the unit vector along A is
given by
1.5 Vector Addition and Subtraction
• Two vectors A and B can be added together to give
another vector C; that is,
• The vector addition is carried out component by
component. Thus, if A = ( ) and B = ().
• Vector subtraction is similarly carried out as
The three basic laws of algebra
obeyed by any given vectors A,
B, and C are summarized as
follows:
where k and l, are scalars.
1.6 Position and Distance Vectors
• A point P in Cartesian coordinates may be represented by (x, y, z).
• The position vector (or radius vector) of point P is defined as the
directed distance from the origin O to P; that is,
• The position vector of point P is useful in defining
its position in space. Point (3, 4, 5), for example,
and its position vector 3 + 4 + 5
• The distance vector is the displacement from one
point to another.
• If two points P and Q are given by () and (), the
distance vector (or separation vector) is the
displacement from P to Q
• Vector A may depend on point P
• For example, if A = + and P is (2, -1, 4), then A at P
would be - + - .
• A vector field is said to be constant or uniform if it does
not depend on space variables x, y, and z.
• For example, vector B = + + is a uniform vector while
vector A = + is not uniform because B is the same
everywhere, whereas A varies from point to point.
1.7 Vector Multiplication
• When two vectors A and B are multiplied, the result is either a
scalar or a vector depending on how they are multiplied. Thus,
there are two types of vector multiplication:
A. Dot Product
• The dot product of two vectors A and B, written as A ∙ B, is
defined geometrically as the product of the magnitudes of A and
B and the cosine of the smaller angle between them when they
are drawn tail to tail.
• If A = () and B = (), then
• Note that dot product obeys the following:
B. Cross Product
• The cross product of two vectors A and B, written as A х B, is a
vector quantity whose magnitude is the area of the parallelogram
formed by A and B (see Figure 1.7) and is in the direction of
advance of a right-handed screw
Thus,
as A is turned into B.
The vector multiplication of eq. (1.21) is called
cross product owing to the cross sign; it is also
called vector product because the result is a
vector. If A = () and B = (), then
C. Scalar Triple Product
Given three vectors A, B, and C, we define the scalar
triple product as:
• If A = () and B = (), C = (), then A∙(B х C) is the volume of a
parallelepiped having A, B, and C as edges and is easily obtained
by finding the determinant of the 3 x 3 matrix formed by A, B,
and C; that is,
D. Vector Triple Product
• Given three vectors A, B, and C, we define the scalar triple
product as
which may be remembered as the “bac-cab” rule. It should be
noted that
1.8 Components of a Vector
• Given a vector A, we define the scalar component AB of A along
vector B as [see Figure 1.10(a)]
The vector component AB of A along B is simply the
scalar component in eq. (1.34) multiplied
by a unit vector along B; that is,