MATH 37

Reading Assignment 10

Theorem: The magnitude A  B is equal to the area of the parallelogram determined by A

and B .

Example: Find the area of the parallelogram determined by A  1,0, 1 and B  2,0,0 .

Solution:
i j k
0 1 1 1 1 0
A  B  1 0 1  i j k  0i  2 j  0k
0 0 2 0 2 0
2 0 0

A  B  02   2   02  2
2

Therefore, the area of the parallelogram is 2 square units.

Question: Is the area also equal to B  A ?

Theorem: The volume of the parallelepiped determined by the vectors A , B , and C is

given by A   B  C  .

Example: Find the volume of the parallelepiped determined by the position representations
of A  1,0, 1 , B  2,0,0 , and C  1,1,1 .

Solution: B  C  0i  2 j  2k (Verify this.)

Then A   B  C   0  0  2  2 .
Thus, the volume of the parallelepiped is A   B  C   2 cubic units.

Question: Is the volume also equal to C   A  B  ? to B   C  A  ?

Question: Will rearranging vectors in the previous examples affect the resulting values?