REVIEW OF VECTOR OPERATIONS:

There are four vector operations: addition and three kinds of multiplication.
Addition of two vectors:
Place the tail of B at the head of A; the sum, A + B, is the vector from the tail of A to the head of
B (Fig.1). (This rule generalizes the obvious procedure for combining two displacements.)
Addition is commutative:
𝑨+𝑩=𝑩+𝑨
3 miles east followed by 4 miles north gets you to the same place as 4 miles north followed by 3
miles east.
Addition is also associative:
(𝑨 + 𝑩) + 𝑪 = 𝑨 + (𝑩 + 𝑪)
To subtract a vector (Fig. 1.1), add its opposite: A - B = A + (-B)

Figure 1 and 1.1

Multiplication by a scalar:
Multiplication of a vector by a positive scalar a multiplies the magnitude but leaves the direction
unchanged (Fig. 2). (If a is negative, the direction is reversed). Scalar multiplication is distributive:
a(𝑨 + 𝑩) = 𝒂𝑨 + 𝒂𝑩
Dot product of two vectors:
The dot product of two vectors is defined by
𝑨. 𝑩 = 𝑨𝑩𝒄𝒐𝒔𝜽
where θ is the angle, they form when placed tail-to-tail (Fig 2.1). The dot product is commutative
𝑨. 𝑩 = 𝑨𝑩
and distributive,

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 𝑨. (𝑩 + 𝑪) = 𝑨. 𝑩 + 𝑩. 𝑨
GeometricaIIy, A . B is the product of A times the projection of B along A (or the product of B
times the projection of A along B).

Figure 2 and 2.1

Cross product of two vectors.
The cross product of two vectors is defined by
𝑨 × 𝑩 =× 𝑨𝑩𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽𝒏
The cross product is distributive,
A x (B + C) = (A x B) + (A x C),
Geometrically, IA x BI is the area of the parallelogram generated by A and B (Fig.3). If two vectors
are parallel, their cross product is zero. In particular, AxA=O for any vector A.

Figure 3

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COMPONENTS OF VECTORS:
➢ Any vector can be represented by an x-component Ax and a y-component Ay .
➢ Use trigonometry to find the components of a vector: Ax = Acos θ and Ay = Asin θ, where
θ is measured from the +x-axis toward the +y-axis (as shown in figure 4)

Figure 4

➢ The x-component of a vector is the projection along the x-axis.

𝐴𝑥 = 𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃
➢ The y-component of a vector is the projection along the y-axis.
𝐴𝑦 = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
➢ The components are the legs of the right triangle whose hypotenuse is the length of A.

Figure 5

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➢ For two or more vectors we can use the components of a set of vectors.
➢ Direction and magnitude of resultant vector is given by,
𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 = 𝑅 = √𝑅𝑥 2 + 𝑅𝑦 2 and,
𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑅 = 𝜃 = tan−1 √𝑅𝑥/𝑅𝑦

Where 𝑅𝑥 = 𝐴𝑥 + 𝐵𝑥 + 𝐶𝑥 + ⋯ , 𝑅𝑦 = 𝐴𝑦 + 𝐵𝑦 + 𝐶𝑦 + ⋯

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