Applied mathematics I (Math131B) tutorial 2014/15

CHAPTER ONE
VECTORS AND VECTOR SPACES (Tutorial)
1.1. Scalars and vectors in
Activity 1.1
Describe the difference between scalar and vector quantities in and give some practical examples.
Example 1.1: Determine whether the following pairs vectors in is parallel or not.
a.
b.

1.2. Vector addition and Scalar multiplication

Activity 1.2
Find the resultant sum of the pairs of vector given in example 1 above and show the diagram
representation of the resultant vectors.

1.3. Dot (Scalar) product, Magnitude of a vector, Angle between two Vectors, Orthogonal Projection,
Direction angles and direction cosines.
Activity 1.3
How does the dot product of two vectors compare with the product of their lengths? For instance, let
U = (1,1) and V(-4,-3). Calculate U.V and U V and Repeat this experiment with other
Choices for u and v. Formulate a conjecture about the relationship between U.V and U V .

Example 1.2: Find any unit vectors that are perpendicular to the vector .
Solution: Let be a unit vector perpendicular to A.
Then ‖ ‖

Then solving simultaneously we get ( ) ( )


Example 1.3: If the angle between the vectors A and B is   with each other and A  3 and
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B  1, then calculate the cosine the angle between the vectors and .

Solution: If ‖ ‖‖ ‖

But ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ (√ ) ‖ ‖ √
Similarly ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖

Thus, ( )
√ √

Example 1.4: Let be a pair orthogonal vectors such that ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ Find the angle

between the vector and the vector .

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 Applied mathematics I (Math131B) tutorial 2014/15

Solution: Let is the angle between the vectors

‖ ‖
Then ‖ ‖
‖ ‖‖ ‖ ‖ ‖‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖

‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ √
But ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖

√ √
Thus, ‖ ‖
( )
√ √

Activity 1.3

1. If and are perpendicular unit vectors, show that A  B  2.

2. Let . Then find the directional cosines & directional angles of A.

3. Given U=(2,-2) , V = (5,8) and W = (-4,3) find
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a)U.V b) (U.V)W c) U.(2V) d) W e) U.(V-2W)

4. Consider two vectors U and V in Rn such that U.U=39 ,U.V=-3 and V.V=79
Evaluate (U+2V).(3U+V)
5. The Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality: If U and V are vectors in Rn , then
U .V  U V
Where U.V denotes the absolute value of U.V.

Example .Verify the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality for U = (1, -1, 3) and V=(2, 0, -1).
6. Determine all vectors in R2 that are orthogonal to U= (4,2)
7. Applications
Vectors are useful in many aspects of physics and engineering
Example A 100-lb weight hangs from two wires as shown in Figure . Find the tensions
(forces) T1 and T2 in both wires and the magnitudes of the tensions.

500 320
T1 T2

100-lb
SOLUTION We first express and in terms of their horizontal and vertical components.
From Figure we see that

T1   T1 cos 500 i  T1 sin 500 j

T2  T2 cos 320 i  T2 sin 320 j

The resultant T1 + T2 of the tensions counterbalances the weight and so we must have
T1 + T2 = -W =100j

1.4. The Cross Product

Example 1.5: Let ( √ ) be vectors in space.
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 Applied mathematics I (Math131B) tutorial 2014/15

Then find
a) the unit vector in the opposite direction of
b) the area of the parallelogram formed by
c) The angle between .
Solutions:
√
a) The unit vector in the opposite direction of ‖ ‖
( )

b) The area of the parallelogram is given by ‖ ‖ √

c) Since the is orthogonal to both it is also orthogonal to
Example 1.6: Find the volume the parallelepiped with the vectors
as three of its edges.
Solution: The volume of the parallelepiped V is the absolute value of the triple scalar product of the three
vectors

Thus, | | | ( )|

Example1.7: If the area of an equilateral triangle with adjacent sides is √ then find .
Solution: Since it is an equilateral triangle, the angle between is

The area of the triangle is ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖‖ ‖ ( ) √ ‖ ‖‖ ‖

Therefore, ‖ ‖‖ ‖ ( ) ( )

Activity 1.4
1. Find the area of the triangle with vertices .
2. Find a unit vector orthogonal to both U= i – 4j +k and V = 2i +3j.

1.5. Lines and Planes in

Example 1.8: Find the parametric and symmetric equations of the line passing through the point (2, 3, -4) and
parallel to the vector, <-1, 2, 5> .
Solution: Simply use the parametric and symmetric equations for any line given a point on the line and the
direction vector.
Parametric Equations:

Symmetric equations:

Example 1.9: Determine if the following two lines are parallel or identical.

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.
Solution: First look at the direction vectors:

, which shows the two lines are parallel.

Now we must determine if they are identical. So we need to determine if they pass through the same points.
So we need to determine if the two sets of parametric equations produce the same points for different values
of t. Let t=0 for Line 1, the point produced is (3, 2, 4). Set the x from Line 2 equal to the x-coordinate
produced by Line 1 and solve for t.

Now let t=1 for Line 2 and the point (3, 2, -1) is produced. Since the z-coordinates are not equal, the lines are
not identical.
Example 1.10: Determine if the lines intersect. If so, find the point of intersection and the cosine of the angle
of intersection.

Line 1: x  3  2t Line 2 : x  4  t
y  2t y  3  5t
z  4t z  2t
Solution: Direction vectors: v1  2, 2, 1 v2  1,5, 1
Since v2  k  v1 , the lines are not parallel. Thus they either intersect or they are skew lines.
Keep in mind that the lines may have a point of intersection or a common point, but not necessarily for the
same value of t. So equate each coordinate, but replace the t in Line 2 with an s.

Solving the system, we get t = 1 and s = -1.

Line 1: t = 1 produces the point (5, -2, 3)
Line 2: s = -1 produces the point (5, -2, 3).So the lines intersect at this point.
To find the angle of intersection of the two lines,

u v
cos   , where  is the angle between u and v
u  v

The angle θ between two intersecting lines should be less than 90 ,

so we use absolute value in the numerator.

2, 2, 1  1,5, 1
cos  
22   2    1   1  52   1
2 2 2 2

2  10  1 11
cos     0.706
9  27 9 3 4
   arc cos(0.706)
 Applied mathematics I (Math131B) tutorial 2014/15

Example 1.12: Given the points (1, 2, -1), (4, 0,3) and (2, -1, 5) in a plane, find the equation of the plane in
general form.
Solution: To write the equation of the plane we need a point (we have three) and a vector normal to the plane.
So we need to find a vector normal to the plane. First find two vectors in the plane, and then recall that their
cross product will be a vector normal to both those vectors and thus normal to the plane.
Two vectors: From (1, 2, -1) to (4, 0, 3): < 4-1, 0-2, 3+1 > = <3,-2, 4>
From (1, 2, -1) to (2, -1, 5): < 2-1, -1-2, 5+1 > = <1,-3, 6>
Their cross product:
i j k
3 2 4  0i  14 j  7 k  14 j  7 k
1 3 6
Equation of the plane:
0  x  1  14  y  2   7  z  1  0
14 y  7 z  21  0
or
2y  z 3  0
Example 1.13: Find the line of intersection for the planes
Solution: To find the common intersection, solve the equations simultaneously.
Multiply the first equation by –1 and add the two to eliminate x.

1  x  3 y  4 z  0    x  3 y  4 z  0
x  3y  2z  0  x  3y  2z  0
1
 6 y  2 z  0 or y  z
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Back substitute y into one of the first equations and solve for x.
 1 
x  3  z   4z  0
 3 
x  z  4z  0
x  3 z
Finally if you let z = t, the parametric equations for the line are

1
x  3t , y  t and z  t
3
Distance in space
Example 1.14: Find the distance between the point Q(3, 1, -5) to the plane
4x + 2y – z = 8.

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 Applied mathematics I (Math131B) tutorial 2014/15

Solution: We know the normal to the plane is <4, 2, - 1> from the general form of a plane. We can find a
point in the plane simply by letting x and y equal 0 and solving for z: P (0, 0, -8) is a point in the plane.
Thus the vector, PQ = <3-0, 1-0, -5-(-8)> = <3, 1, 3>
Now that we have the vector PQ and the normal, we simply use the formula for the distance between a point
and a plane. PQ  n 3,1,3  4, 2, 1
D  projn PQ  
42  22   1
2
n

12  2  3 11
D   2.4
16  4  1 21

Example1.15: Find the distance between the planes

Solution: We first rewrite the equations so that they have the same normal vector⃗⃗⃗ 〈 〉.
That is:
⁄ ⁄

| | | ⁄ |
Thus, ⁄
√ √

Activity 1.5
1. Determine the equation of the plane passing through the point is its normal vector.
2. Find the distance from the given point P to the given plane  .

a) .
b) .
3. Find the line of intersection for the planes

1.6. Vector Spaces and Subspaces

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Example 1.16: Show that the set of points { } is a subspace of .
Activity 1.6
1. Determine whether the following set of vectors in the vector space are linearly dependent or dependent.
a. { }.
b. { }

2.Show that the set of vectors { } forms a basis of

Example1.17: If is the linear combination of then find the
value(s) of .
Solution:

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 Applied mathematics I (Math131B) tutorial 2014/15

Then solving simultaneously for , and equating the entries in the coordinates, we get

Example 1.18: Let be a vector space with the usual addition and scalar multiplication over .Then:
a. Show that { } is a subspace of .
b. { } forms a basis of .

Example 1.19: Let V be the vector space of all real valued functions of real variable t. Then which of the
following set of functions are LD/LI? Justify!
a. { }
b. { }

Solution: Class work