Vectors in two dimensions

problems. You will find that the emphasis is

Until now, we have been working in one dimen-
placed on understanding the concepts involved,
sion only. The main reason for this is to become
while the mathematics has been kept to a min-
familiar with the main physical ideas like New-
imum. Knowledge of trigonometry is assumed,
ton’s second law, without the additional compl-
however. You are really supposed to have
ication of vectors. The time has come, however,
learned this in high school. If you are weak in
to take this additional step. Many interesting
this area, now is the time to review.
physical effects are inherently more than one-
dimensional, and we would like to learn about
them. What is a vector?
Studies have repeatedly shown that a poor grasp
of vectors is one of the major causes of failure in Suppose we are in city A, and someone has told
introductory physics courses. The time and effort us that a nearby city B is some distance d away.
spent on developing a good understanding of Do we have enough information to find B? Of
vectors now will be amply rewarded later on. course not, because B could be at any point on a
One of the unfortunate facts about this topic is circle of radius d centered at A. Here is a bird's-
that students come into first-year physics with eye view:
widely different levels of background in vectors.
Another fact is that university-level professors B?
often don’t want to spend much valuable class B?
time reviewing vectors. They prefer to get on to d d
the “real” physics as soon as possible, and if you A
haven’t already magically grasped enough
knowledge about vectors, look out!
This section, and its companion on vectors in
three dimensions, attempts to address these In addition to the distance, we need to know the
direction, in order to find B . One way of Another familiar example of a vector is the
specifying the direction would be to give the velocity. This vector points in the direction of
angle θ (the Greek letter theta) of B, measured motion, and its magnitude is the speed. If only
counter-clockwise from due east. Once both the the speed is specified, then the direction is
distance and direction of the line from A to B are unknown and the velocity is not completely
specified, we can locate B. This is shown in the specified.
following figure:
Baseball pitchers often talk about having "good
B velocity". Most of the time, what they are really
talking about is just the magnitude of the
velocity; their word for the ability to determine
d
the direction of a pitch is "control". Often a
θ pitcher will have "good velocity" but "no
A due east control". He won't make it in either baseball or
physics.
Taken together, the distance and direction of the
line from A to B is called the displacement from Because of the directional nature of a vector, it
A to B, and is represented by the blue arrow in looks different when viewed from different
the above figure. (The arrow-head tells us that directions. In the resources for this lesson you
we are talking about the displacement from A to will find a movie illustrating the changing appear-
B, and not B to A.) The displacement is a classic ance of a vector when viewed from different
example of a vector. angles.
Definition: a vector is a quantity that has both Components of a vector
magnitude and direction.
Returning to the displacement vector from A to
The magnitude of the displacement vector from A B, let's ask: "how much of the displacement is in
to B is the distance from A to B. It is important the easterly direction?" This is the same as
to remember that a vector is not completely asking how far B is from A, when viewed from
specified by its magnitude or direction alone; due south. The answer is the length of the
both are necessary. segment shaded in green in the following figure:
 B define the angle between the above two vectors
in this way:
d
θ
A due east B

This length is referred to as the component of the d

displacement vector in the easterly direction. It
is given in this example by d cos θ. A
2π−α
There's nothing special about the fact that we However, cos(2π − α) is the same as cos α, so
found the component of the displacement vector
there is no ambiguity.
in the easterly direction. We can find its
component in any direction we like. We simply For the value of α shown in the last two figures,
specify the direction of interest by drawing a cos α is positive. This is not always the case,
vector in that direction, and drop a line from the however. For example, the red vector could
tip of the original vector perpendicular to this point like this:
new vector. For example, the component of the
blue vector in the direction of the red vector in B
the following figure is d cos α:
α d
B
A
α
d The component in the direction of the red vector
A is still d cos α, but this is now negative. The
absolute value of this number is the length of the
green segment in the above figure.
You might think that there is an ambiguity
caused by the fact that we could equally well
Specifying a vector in two dimensions and θ are known), then the components a and b
are given by
Although a vector is defined as a quantity with
magnitude and direction, it need not be specified a = d cos θ and b = d sin θ .
directly by the values of these two properties.
Returning to our discussion of the displacement Conversely, if a and b are known, then d and θ
vector, we could equally well specify the dis- are given by
placement by saying how far east and how far
north B is from A. That is, we could specify the d= a 2 + b 2 and θ = arctan (b / a).
components of the displacement vector in the You should not memorize these equations. They
easterly and northerly directions. These are will occur in many different contexts, with
shown in green in the following figure: different variables and in different notations.
north However, you should be completely familiar with
the ideas behind these equations, so that actually
B performing a conversion between polar and
component form presents no problem. The
d ideas, and not the mathematics, are the primary
b content of this lesson.
θ
east Addition of vectors in two dimensions
A a
Suppose we have a third city, C, and suppose we
If the vector is specified in this way, it is said to know the distance and direction from B to C (in
be in component form. This is completely
addition to our previous knowledge of the
equivalent with the polar form, in which the displacement vector from A to B). Let's say we
vector is specified by its magnitude and its want to go directly from A to C. What are the
direction.
distance and direction?
Of course, you can convert freely back and forth
The first thing to notice is that if the three cities
between the two forms. This is a very common
do not lie in a straight line, then the distance from
manipulation. If you know the polar form (i.e. d
A to C will not be equal to the sum of the
distances from A to B and from B to C. Also, the Then the length of the displacement vector from
direction will be related in a complicated way to A to C is
the two separate directions and distances:
(a + a´)2 + (b + b´)2
C
B and its angle measured counter-clockwise from
due east is
ä b + b´ ìëì
arctan åååå ìì .
A ã a + a´ í

You can see, however, that the solution is easy if This completely specifies the sum of the two
we work with the components of the separate displacement vectors. To get the sum of
displacement vectors. Let the components of the two vectors, you place them tip to tail and draw a
vector from B to C in the easterly and northerly third vector from the tail to the tip of the whole
directions be be a´ and b´, respectively. Then it thing. In the following figure, the sum of the
is obvious that the component of the dis- displacement vectors from A to B and from B to
placement vector from A to C in the easterly C is shown in red.
direction is a + a´, and in the northerly direction C
is b + b´:
B
north
10010101
010101010101
0101
010101010101

C
b´ A
B
b+b´ Note that the order in which you do the sum is
b
unimportant. As the above figure shows, adding
east the vectors in the opposite order requires you to
A a a´
slide them around parallel to themselves. You
a+a´ get what looks like a fictitious path from A to C,
going through some ghostly "fourth city". This is
all right; what matters is the resulting path
directly from A to C. This is the same, no matter Pv
which order the vectors are combined in. Pv
Here is an important point that often causes P +v
It is natural to write v P = 2v
P , where the right-
confusion. A vector is specified completely by hand side means a vector in the same direction as
its magnitude and direction. The vector is the vP but twice as long. Obviously, you can multiply
same, no matter where it is, as long as its a vector by any positive real number in the same
magnitude and direction are the same. The way; for example, 1.5v P is a vector in the
location of the vector is not part of its definition. direction same direction as v P but 1.5 times as
You are free to "slide the vectors around" as long long.
as you do not change their magnitude and
direction. Suppose we subtract vP from itself. The result is
obvious because when you subtract something
Vector notation from itself, you get zero: vP − vP = P0 . (The right-
Instead of referring to a vector by a name like hand side is the zero vector, a vector of length
"the displacement vector from A to B", it is useful zero whose direction is undefined.) This picture
to have a symbol. We denote a vector by an shows the operation of subtracting vP from itself:
arrow over a letter like this: v
P . Different vectors
Pv
will be distinguished by different letters. The
sum of two vectors is written Pu + vP , for example. – Pv

Multiplication of a vector by a real number Subtracting vP is the same as adding a vector the
same length as vP but in the opposite direction.
Suppose we add vP to itself. We end up with a That is,
vector which is twice as long as the original,
pointing in the same direction: vP − vP = vP + ( − vP)

Hence, if you multiply a vector by − 1 , you get a

vector the same length as the original but in the
opposite direction. Similarly, multiplying a There is a section on vectors in three dimensions
vector by –1.5, say, gives a vector in the opposite in this course material. You don't need to go
direction and 1.5 times as long. there now, if all you want to do is understand the
concept of vectors, however.
Multiplying a vector by the real number zero
obviously gives the zero vector. The dot product

It’s also useful to have a notation for the length The dot product (or scalar product, or inner
or magnitude of a vector. It is product) of two vectors is defined to be the
product of the lengths of the two vectors times
vP , the cosine of the angle between the vectors:
and is a positive number or zero, by definition. aP A bP = aP Pb cos θ .
Summary so far
The dot product is just a number, in contrast to
You now know all of the essential information another kind of product called the vector product
about vectors: or cross product, to be discussed later.

• they have magnitude and direction; Note that the length of a vector is just the square
root of the dot product of the vector with itself:
• you can find their component in any direction
you choose; vP = vP A vP .
• they can be added together; Unit vectors

• they can be multiplied by a real number; Unit vectors are a handy way to specify
directions. Until now, we have specified
• there exists a zero vector. directions by saying things like “due east” and
“due north”. It is often useful to have a
Although we have illustrated the above points shorthand notation for these terms. What we are
using vectors in two dimensions only, everything now going to describe is just notation - there is
carries over into three dimensions.
no more content to it than that.
Let’s make a vector which has length equal to where a and b are related to the magnitude and
one unit and points due east. We’ll call this the direction of vP as before.
unit vector in the x-direction and symbolize it by
putting a hat over it: Vectors are particularly easy to manipulate when
written like this. For example, if we have
xˆ . another vector
Similarly, let’s let the unit vector which points P = cxˆ + dyˆ ,
w
due north be yˆ .
then
(Other common notations for these unit vectors
are ˆi and ˆj or eˆ x and eˆ y.) vP − 2w
P = (a − 2c)xˆ + (b − 2d)yˆ .
Suppose we know the components of two
Returning to our diagram which shows the vectors. Can we easily calculate their dot prod-
components of a vector in the easterly and uct? The answer is yes. The dot product of the
northerly directions, we find that the vector can above two vectors turns out to be just the sum of
be expressed as the sum of multiples of the unit the products of their components:
vectors:
P = ac + bd .
vP A w

yˆ To check this, consider the case where w P points

in the xˆ direction. (If it doesn’t, then convert
Pv xˆ
b yˆ everything to a new set of unit vectors in which it
does.) This means we may set d=0.
a xˆ

Remember that a xˆ is a vector in the xˆ -direction

Pv b
which has length a. In symbols,
θ w
P
vP = axˆ + byˆ , a
c
Beginning with the definition of the dot product, are r, the distance from the origin to the point,
we find and θ, the angle measured clockwise from the x-
axis:
P = vP w
vP A w P cos θ
= á vP cos θ é c θˆ rˆ
= ac ,

as claimed. r

Polar coordinates and unit vectors θ

This section is included here mainly for future In this case, the appropriate unit vectors to use
reference. You can safely skip it when you are are rˆ and θˆ , as shown in the above figure. The
reading about vectors for the first time. former points in the direction of increasing radial
The unit vectors we have just discussed are most coordinate r , while the latter points in the
appropriate when we are using rectangular direction of increasing angle θ.
coordinates. That is, we are specifying the Note that these unit vectors are not fixed. Their
location of any point in the plane by stating its x- direction depends on where they are. That is,
and y-coordinates: they remain at right angles to one another, but
both point in different directions depending on
the value of θ. Compare the next figure with the
1001
0101010101

y yˆ previous one:
xˆ
θˆ
yˆ
rˆ
x r xˆ
θ
However, it is useful in many applications to
specify points by their polar coordinates. These In contrast, the unit vectors xˆ and yˆ are fixed,
once and for all. dPr(t)
vP(t) = .
dt
For this reason, it is often useful to express rˆ and
θˆ in terms of xˆ and yˆ . It would be an excellent The unit vectors we are using here don’t depend
exercise for you to show that the relations are on time, so the velocity vector in component
form is
rˆ = xˆ cos θ + yˆ sin θ
dx(t) dy(t)
θˆ = − xˆ sin θ + yˆ cos θ . vP(t) = xˆ + yˆ .
dt dt
Sometimes it’s also useful to be able to go the Similarly, the acceleration vector is
other way. The inverse relations are
dvP(t) d 2 x(t) d 2 y(t)
xˆ = rˆ cos θ − θˆ sin θ aP(t) ≡ = xˆ + y
ˆ .
dt 2 2
dt dt
yˆ = rˆ sin θ + θˆ cos θ .
Velocity and acceleration in polar coordinates
The velocity and acceleration vectors
The expressions in the last section are given in
Suppose we have a body which moves from rectangular coordinates. Sometimes, particularly
place to place. Then its displacement vector will when we are dealing with circular motion, it is
be a function of time: useful to have expressions for position, velocity
and acceleration in polar coordinates. The
Pr(t) = xˆx(t) + yˆy(t) . displacement vector is
Don’t let the notation confuse you; the things Pr(t) = rˆ r(t) .
with the hats are just the usual fixed unit vectors,
and x(t) a n d y(t) are the components of the Of course, this has no component in the θ-
displacement vector. They are functions of time. direction. In order to find the velocity, we have
to differentiate and take into account the fact that
The velocity vector is just the time derivative of rˆ changes direction as the position of the particle
the displacement vector: changes:
 dPr(t) drˆ dr d
= r + rˆ . N= .
dt dt dt dt
Let’s deal with this aspect first. Going back to (Note: if you can’t see the prime clearly, use
our expression for rˆ in terms of the fixed unit Reader’s magnification tool to increase the
vectors xˆ and yˆ , and differentiating, gives magification.)

drˆ The next figure shows a picture of the above

= − xˆ ω sin θ + yˆ ω cos θ . equation. It gives the decomposition of the
dt
velocity into a radial part (the first term) and an
We have used the common short-hand notation angular part (the second term).
for the angular velocity
Pv(t) path
dθ
ω= .
dt
rωθˆ
Notice that the right-hand side is just
r N rˆ
proportional to θˆ :
Pr(t)
drˆ θ
dt = ω θ
ˆ .
We differentiate again to find the acceleration:
This says that rˆ just “twists around” in the θˆ -
dvP(t) d rˆ d θˆ
direction. Inserting into our earlier expression = r O rˆ + r N + (r Nω + r ωN ) θˆ + r ω .
gives the final result dt dt dt
In the same way as we worked out the time
vP(t) = r Nrˆ + r ω θˆ derivative of rˆ before, we can show that
.
dθˆ
Here, we have used the shorthand notation = − ωrˆ .
dt
A little re-arranging then shows that the whose value at each point is a vector. Such a
acceleration is thing is specified mathematically by as many
functions as there are spatial dimensions. In two
1 d 2 dimensions, it’s written
P(t) = rˆ á r O− r ω2 é + θˆ
a ár ωé
r dt . P(Pr) = xˆF (Pr) + yˆF (Pr) .
F x y

For an application of these formulas, see the The x-component of the vector field is specified
section on circular motion. by a single function F x (Pr), while the y-component
is specified by another function Fy (Pr) .
Vector fields
A force field is one type of vector field. Suppose
the force on a body depends on where the body is
A field is anything which is defined at all points located. Then the set of the force vectors at all
in some region of space. For example, the points in space is a field. Examples include the
temperature of the air in a room has a value at gravitational field and the electric and magnetic
each point in the room. The values could be fields, all of which we will study later.
different, or they could be the same.
There are other, higher kinds of fields. For
In the case of temperature, the value of the field example, a field whose value at each point is a
at any given point is a single number. Such a matrix (an array of numbers) is called a tensor
field is called a scalar field. Mathematically, a
field. These fields are studied in later courses.
scalar field is specified by a single function of the
coordinates, written F(Pr). Notice that Pr is a Time-dependent fields
vector (specifying the point in the room, for
example), while the value F(Pr) of the field at that Fields often depend on time. A time-dependent
point is a single number. scalar field is written

There are other kinds of fields besides scalar F(Pr,t) .

fields. The next most complicated kind is a
vector field. As you might expect, that’s a field Here is a movie showing a time-dependent scalar
field. The value of the field at a point in the
horizontal plane is given by the vertical
coordinate of the surface above that point.
A time-dependent vector field is written

F
P(Pr,t) .

Here is a movie and another movie showing

time-dependent vector fields.