MATHONGO – FORMULA SHEET – VECTOR ALGEBRA

(a) (i) The position vector of the point which divides the distance between the two end points
 
  mb  na
with position vectors a and b in the ratio m: n internally is and externally
mn
 
mb  na
is .
mn
(ii) The position vector of the mid-point of the line joining two points whose position
 
vectors are a, b is 
1  
2
ab . 
(iii) The position vector of the centroid of the triangle with vertices having position vectors
  
   a b c
a, b, c is .
3
  
(iv) The end points of three vectors a, b and c are collinear if three constant l, m, n (not
  
all zero) can be found such that la  mb  nc  0 , where l  m  n  0 .

(b) Components of a vector

 
(i) If a, b are two non-parallel vectors in a plane, then any vector in that plane can be
 
represented as la  mb , where l and m are scalars.
  
(ii) If three constants l, m, n (not all zero) can be found such that la  mb  nc  0 , then
  
a, b and c are coplanar.
   
(iii) Any vector d in space can be represented as la  mb  nc , where l, m, n are scalars
  
and a, b, c are three non coplanar vectors.

Addition and subtraction B

 
If OA  a and AB  b , then the vector  
ab 
  b
OB  a  b .
O  A
If BA is produced to C such that AC  b , then a

    b
OC  a  b a b
C

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MATHONGO – FORMULA SHEET – VECTOR ALGEBRA
Vector obey commutative, associative and distributive laws.

(i) 
   
  
m a  b  c  ma  mb  mc (ii)
   
a b  b a

    
(iii) a  b  c  a  b  c  a  b  c
  

   
Scalar product (or dot product) of two vectors a and b is written as a . b and is defined as
     
a. b  a b cos , where 0     is the angle between a and b .

(a) Scalar multiplication is commutative and distributive

   

      

a . b  b .a and a . b  c  a . b  a .c

  
 a.b
(b) The orthogonal projection of a on a straight line in the direction of b is given by P  
b

(c) iˆ . jˆ  1, jˆ . jˆ  1, kˆ . kˆ  1

iˆ . ˆj  0  ˆj . iˆ

ˆj . kˆ  0  kˆ . ˆj

kˆ . iˆ  0  iˆ . kˆ
   
(d) a . b  a1b1  a2b2  a3 b3 , where a  a1iˆ  a2 ˆj  a3 kˆ and b  b1iˆ  b2 ˆj  b3 kˆ
 
a.b a1b1  a2b2  a3 b3
(e) cos    
a b a12  a22  a32 b12  b22  b32

 
(f) Two non-zero vectors are orthogonal if an only if a . b  0

     
(g) If a . b  0 , then either a  0 or b  0 or a and b are orthogonal.
   
(h) Work done by a force F in a displacement d is given by F .d .

Vector Product (or cross product)

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MATHONGO – FORMULA SHEET – VECTOR ALGEBRA
 
A vector whose magnitude is equal to the area of the parallelogram witha and b as adjacent
   
sides and whose direction is perpendicular to both a and b and is such that a , b and that
 
vector form a right-handed screw is called the vector product of a and b and is denoted by
 
ab .
   
Thus a  b = a b sin  n̂ , where  is the angle between the 2 vectors and n̂ is the unit

   
vector perpendicular to both a and b and a , b and n̂ form a right-handed screw.

(a)

 
 
 
ka b  k a  b  a  kb , where k is a scalar.
   
(b) Cross multiplication by vectors is not commutative a  b  b  a
  
   
   
(c) Cross multiplication is distributive a  b  c  a  b  a  c 

(d) iˆ  ˆj  kˆ   ˆj  iˆ

ˆj  kˆ  iˆ  kˆ  ˆj

kˆ  iˆ  ˆj  iˆ  kˆ

iˆ  iˆ  0, ˆj  ˆj  0, kˆ  kˆ  0

iˆ ˆj kˆ
   
(e) a  b  a1 a2 a3 , where a  a1iˆ  a2 ˆj  a3 kˆ, b  b1iˆ  b2 ˆj  b3 kˆ
b1 b2 b3

  
(f) Area of a triangle whose vertices have position vectors a, b, c is

1      
a b  b c  c a
2
  
(g) Condition for three points with position vectors a, b, c to be collinear is

     
ab  b c  c a = 0
   
(h) Moment of a force F about a point P is r  F , where r is the vector of any point on the

line of action of the force F from P.

Scalar Triple Product

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MATHONGO – FORMULA SHEET – VECTOR ALGEBRA
  
If a  a1iˆ  a2 ˆj  a3 kˆ, b  b1iˆ  b2 ˆj  b3 kˆ, c  c1iˆ  c 2 ˆj  c3 kˆ are three vectors, then the

dot product of
     
    
a and b  c i.e., a . b  c is called the scalar triple product of a, b and c and
a1 a2 a3
  
is denoted by [a b c ] and its value is b1 b2 b3 .
c1 c 2 c3
  
(a) The absolute value of the scalar triple product [a b c ] is the volume of the parallelopiped
  
with a, b, c as its adjacent sides.

     
(i) If three vectors a, b, c are coplanar, then [a b c ] = 0.

   
For example: [a b 2a  3b]  0

     
(ii) If three vectors a, b, c are linearly dependent, then [a b c ] = 0.

(b) (i)    
     
a. b  c  a  b .c

The positions of dot and cross can be interchanged without affecting the value of the
scalar triple product.

(ii) If two vectors are interchanged in a scalar triple product, the sign is changed
    
[a b c ]  [b a c ]  [c b a]

(iii) A cyclic permutation of the three vectors does not change the sign or value of the
scalar triple product.
        
[a b c ]  [b c a]  [c a b]
         
(iv) [a b c  d ]  [a b c ]  [a b d ]

Vector Triple Product

   
  
If a, b, c are three vectors a  b  c is called a vector triple product.

a  b  c   a . c b  a . b c
        
(i)

a  b  c  and a  b  c are different and

     
(ii) hence placing of the brackets is

important.

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MATHONGO – FORMULA SHEET – VECTOR ALGEBRA
   
(a) 
   
      
       
a  b . c  d  a . c  b . d  a . d b . c =    
a .c a .d
b .c b .d

(b) a  b c  d  [a b d] c  [a b c]d

       
 [a c d ] b  [b c d ] a

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