Vectors and Vector Geometry

o Vectors are quantities that have both size and direction.

Representing Vectors
o In printed material, vectors are always shown in bold e.g. a. In written form on the other
hand, vectors are shown with a small wavy line underneath the letter e.g. a.

o Vectors are usually written in two ways:

- Vector notation
- Component form

o In vector notation, the vector would be written as follows:

�����⃗
𝑂𝐴 = 𝒂

o In component form, the vector is written in terms of the 𝑥 component and 𝑦 component:

𝑥
�𝑦 �

N.B 1: Position vectors are vectors relative to the origin 𝑂:

�����⃗
𝒂 is the position vector of 𝑂𝐴

�����⃗
𝒃 is the position vector of 𝑂𝐵

N.B 2: A vector would be negative if it were in the opposite direction of another vector of
the same size (magnitude):
 If �����⃗ �����⃗ would be – 𝒂
𝐴𝐵 was 𝒂 then 𝐵𝐴

Vector Operations
Addition of Vectors

o To add vectors, we join the ‘head’ of one vector to the ‘tail’ of the other:

o For vectors written in column form, the following formula is used:

Subtraction of Vectors

o To subtract one vector from another, we simply add one vector to the other vector’s
negative i.e.:

𝑎 − 𝑏 = 𝑎 + (−𝑏)

o For vectors written in column form, the following formula is used:

 Multiplication of Vectors

o Vectors can be multiplied by scalars:

o For vectors written in column form, the following formula is used:

Vector Equality

o Vectors are equal only if their 𝑥 - components are equal and their 𝑦 - components are
equal.

The Modulus/ Magnitude/ Length of a Vector

o Pythagoras’ theorem is used to find the modulus of a vector where:

Parallel Vectors
o Two vectors are parallel if one is a scalar multiple of the other.

o For example, if a is parallel to b then we write this as 𝒂 ∥ 𝒃.

The following rules therefore apply:

 Examples

6
1. Prove that a is parallel to b if: 𝒂 = � � and 𝒃 = � 2 �.
3 1
Represented on a grid, the two vectors would look like this:

To prove the that a is parallel to b, we must find the modulus of a and b:

|𝒂| = √62 + 32 |𝒃| = √22 + 12

= 3√5 = √5
From this, we can clearly see that the modulus of a is 3 times that of b. This means that:

𝒂 = 3𝒃
N.B:

- If the value of the non-zero scalar 𝑘 is greater than 0, then the vector 𝑘𝒙 has the same
direction as 𝒙. If the value is less than 0, then the vector 𝑘𝒙 is in the opposite direction
of 𝒙.

- For column vectors, |𝑘𝒂| = |𝑘||𝒂| which means that the length of 𝑘𝒂 is the modulus
of 𝑘 times the length of 𝒂.

�����⃗ and the

2. The diagram below shows 2 identical parallelograms. The vector 𝒒 = 𝐴𝐹
������⃗. The point M is the midpoint of CD.
vector 𝒑 = 𝐴𝐵

a) Show that BM is parallel to AD.

b) Show that EM is parallel to FC.

 Solutions

Collinear Points
o Collinear points are points on the same line.

o If two vectors are parallel and have a point in common, then all points on the vectors are
collinear.

o To find out if points are collinear, we must establish a relationship between them such
that:

𝒙 = 𝑘𝒙
Examples

1. In the figure below, ������⃗

𝑂𝐴 = 𝒂 and �������⃗
𝑂𝐵 = 𝒃.D is a point on OB and the point E is the
𝑂𝐹 = 2 (𝒂 + 𝒃).
midpoint of AB. F is a point on AD such that ������⃗
5

Prove that O, F and E are collinear.

To prove this, we must find two vector lines that pass through these points. Each of the
lines you choose must have a point in common. In this case, �����⃗
𝑂𝐹 and ������⃗
𝐹𝐸 are chosen,
with 𝐹 being the common point between them. Now find the value of each line:

�����⃗
𝐹𝐸 = 𝐹𝑂�����⃗ + �����⃗
𝑂𝐵 + �����⃗
𝐵𝐸 1
�����⃗
𝐵𝐸 = �����⃗
𝐵𝐴
2
2 1
= − (𝒂 + 𝒃) + 𝒃 + (𝒂 − 𝒃) 1
5 2 = (𝒂 − 𝒃)
2
 1 1
= 𝒂+ 𝒃
10 10
1
= (𝒂 + 𝒃)
10
�����⃗ = 2 (𝒂 + 𝒃)
𝑂𝐹
5

�����⃗ and �����⃗

From this, we can establish a relationship between 𝑂𝐹 𝐹𝐸 such that:

�����⃗ �����⃗
𝑂𝐹 = 4𝐹𝐸
If a relationship can be established between the two vectors and they share a point
between themselves, then the points are collinear.

 �����⃗
𝑂𝐹 and �����⃗
𝐹𝐸 are parallel, however point 𝐹 is shared by both and hence O, F and E are
collinear.

2. Four points O, A, B and C are such that:

�����⃗
𝑂𝐴 = 10𝒂 �����⃗ = 5𝒃
𝑂𝐵 �����⃗ = 4𝒂 + 3𝒃
𝑂𝐶
Show that A, B and C are collinear.

Firstly, we may draw a simple sketch to represent this information:

Firstly, we must find 2 vector lines with a common point to prove the points are collinear.
In this case the lines ������⃗ �����⃗ have been chosen, with 𝐴 being the common point
𝐴𝐵 and 𝐴𝐶
between them:

�����⃗
𝐴𝐵 = 𝑂𝐵�����⃗ − �����⃗
𝑂𝐴 �����⃗ = ������⃗
𝐴𝐶 𝑂𝐶 − ������⃗
𝑂𝐴

= 10𝒂 − 5𝒃 = 4𝒂 + 𝟑𝒃 − 10𝒂

= 3𝒃 − 6𝒂
 �����⃗ and 𝐴𝐶
We can establish a relationship between 𝐴𝐵 �����⃗ such that:

�����⃗ = 0.6 𝐴𝐵
𝐴𝐶 �����⃗

 �����⃗
𝐴𝐵 and 𝐴𝐶�����⃗ are parallel, however point 𝐴 is shared by both and hence A, B and C are
collinear.

3. Show that the points 𝐴(4 , 1 , 3), 𝐵(8 , 4 , 6) and 𝐶(20 , 13 , 15) are collinear.

Firstly, we must find 2 vector lines with a common point to prove the points are collinear.
In this case the lines ������⃗ �����⃗ have been chosen, with 𝐴 being the common point
𝐴𝐵 and 𝐴𝐶
between them:

�����⃗
𝐴𝐵 = 𝐵 − 𝐴 �����⃗ = 𝐶 − 𝐴
𝐴𝐶
8 4 20 4
= �4� − �1� = �13� − �1�
6 3 15 3
4 16
= �3� = �12�
3 12
Now we must establish a relationship between the two vectors. The relationship is such
that:

�����⃗ = 4 𝐴𝐵
𝐴𝐶 �����⃗

 �����⃗
𝐴𝐵 and 𝐴𝐶�����⃗ are parallel, however point 𝐴 is shared by both and hence A, B and C are
collinear.

Angles formed by Vectors

o Bearing problems are an example of this. The vectors in this case are called
displacements.