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Lecture I

This document discusses vector algebra, including: 1. Vectors have both magnitude and direction and can be represented algebraically or graphically with an arrow. 2. Two vectors can be added by placing the tail of one vector at the head of the other. Vector addition is commutative. 3. Vectors can be multiplied to form either a scalar (dot product) or a vector (cross product). The dot product results in a scalar and the cross product results in a vector perpendicular to the original vectors.

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John Wanyoike Makau
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67 views3 pages

Lecture I

This document discusses vector algebra, including: 1. Vectors have both magnitude and direction and can be represented algebraically or graphically with an arrow. 2. Two vectors can be added by placing the tail of one vector at the head of the other. Vector addition is commutative. 3. Vectors can be multiplied to form either a scalar (dot product) or a vector (cross product). The dot product results in a scalar and the cross product results in a vector perpendicular to the original vectors.

Uploaded by

John Wanyoike Makau
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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1 VECTOR ALGEBRA

1.1 Introduction

A vector is a quantity having both magnitude and direction. Examples of vectors are
displacement, velocity, acceleration, momentum, and force.

Any vector may be represented algebraically by A

or A and its magnitude by A or A .



Graphically, a vector is represented by an arrow pointing in the direction of the vector and
whose length is proportional to the magnitude of the vector:



A unit vector denoted generally as e is a dimensionless vector having magnitude equal to
unity.

Any vector A may be represented in terms of a unit vector thus:

A e
A
= A (1)

where
A
e points in the same direction as A. Graphically we have:






1.2 Addition of Vectors

Any two vectors Aand B may be added together to obtain a third (resultant) vector C whose
effect is equivalent to that of the two vectors combined. Addition of vectors is illustrated
below:


Vector addition is commutative, that is

A B B A C + = + = (2)

Three or more vectors may be added in a similar manner as shown




The addition of three or more vectors is associative, that is

( ) ( ) C B A C B A + + = + + (3)


1.3 Product of Two Vectors: Scalar and Vector Products

Any two vectors A and B may be multiplied in such a way as to form a scalar quantity. This
is known as the scalar or dot product of the vectors and is defined as

u cos AB = B A (4)

where u is the angle between A and B.

An example of a scalar quantity obtained in this way is work, defined as

u cos Fr W = = r F (5)

The scalar product of a vector A with itself is given by

2 2
0 cos A A = = A A (6)

Therefore the magnitude of A may be written as

A A = A (7)

Two vectors A and B may also be multiplied to form a vector quantity. The new vector C is
referred to as the cross or vector product and is defined as

u sin AB e
C
= = B A C (8)

where
C
e is a unit vector in the direction of C.

By convention, this direction is taken to be the direction in which a screw rotated from vector
A to B would advance



The vector C is perpendicular to the plane containing vectors AandB.

An example of a cross product is the torque (moment of a force) defined as

u t
t
sin rF e = = F r (9)

The cross product of a vector with itself gives a vector O having zero magnitude and no
directional property.

O A A = (10)

NB: The scalar product is commutative while the vector product is not, that is

A B B A = (11)


A B B A = (12)

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