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Chapter 1: The Cross Product of Two Vectors in Space: Section 1.4

This document discusses the cross product of two vectors. It defines the cross product formula as a2b3 - a3b2, a3b1 - a1b3, a1b2 - a2b1. It explains that the cross product can be remembered by setting up the vectors as rows in a 3x3 determinant. The cross product produces a vector perpendicular to the original two vectors, as their dot product will be 0. An example cross product problem is worked out.

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Zazliana Izatti
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31 views7 pages

Chapter 1: The Cross Product of Two Vectors in Space: Section 1.4

This document discusses the cross product of two vectors. It defines the cross product formula as a2b3 - a3b2, a3b1 - a1b3, a1b2 - a2b1. It explains that the cross product can be remembered by setting up the vectors as rows in a 3x3 determinant. The cross product produces a vector perpendicular to the original two vectors, as their dot product will be 0. An example cross product problem is worked out.

Uploaded by

Zazliana Izatti
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 1: The Cross

Product of Two Vectors In


Space
Section 1.4
Dr. Maslan bin Osman
Mathematics Department, Faculty of Science,UTM
In this lesson you will learn
The Cross Product
The cross product of two vectors, denoted as ab , unlike
the dot product, represents a vector.

The cross product is defined to be for

a  a1 ,a 2 , a3 and b  b1 ,b2 , b3
a  b  a2b3  a3b2 , a3b1  a1b3 , a1b2  a2b1

You are probably wondering if there is an easy way to


remember this.

The easy way is to remember how to do determinants of size 3 x 3.


a  a1 ,a 2 , a3 and b  b1 ,b2 , b3
a  b  a2b3  a3b2 , a3b1  a1b3 , a1b2  a2b1

Let’s set up a 3 x 3 determinant as follows:


1. First use the unit vectors
i , j, and k as the first row of the determinant.

2. Use row 2 for the components of a and row 3 for the


components of b.

i j k
a1 a2  
a3  i a2b3   j a3b1   k a1b2   i a3b2   j a1b3   k a2b1  
b1 b2 b3

a2b3  a3b2 i  a3b1  a1b3  j  a1b2  a2b1 k


Find the cross product for the vectors below. Do the problem
before clicking again.

a  2,4,5 and b  1,2,1

i j k
2 4 5 
1 2 1

 
i 4 1  j 51  k 2 2  i 5 2  j 2 1  k 41 
 4  10 i  51  2 j   4  4 k
6i  7 j  8k
Now that you can do a cross product the next step is to see why
this is useful.
Let’s look at the 3 vectors from the last problem

a  2,4,5 , b  1,2,1 and a  b  6,7,8

What is the dot product of


a  2,4,5 with a  b  6,7,8

And

b  1,2,1 with a  b  6,7,8 ?

If you answered 0 in both cases, you would be correct.


Recall that whenever two non-zero vectors are perpendicular,
their dot product is 0. Thus the cross product creates a
vector perpendicular to the vectors a and b.
Since the cross product is determined by using determinants

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