Unit 1

Module 2: Trigonometry, Geometry and Vectors

Vectors

Specific Objectives
Student should be able to:
 x
 
1. express a vector in the form  y  or xi + yj + zk where i, j and k are unit vectors in
z
 
directions of x-, y- and z-axis respectively;

2. define equality of two vectors;

3. add and subtract vectors;

4. multiply a vector by a scalar quantity;

5. derive and use unit vectors, position vectors and displacement vectors;

6. find the magnitude and direction of a vector;

7. find the angle between two given vectors using scalar product;

8. find the equation of a line in vector form, parametric form, Cartesian form, given a point
on the line and a vector parallel to the line;

9. determine whether two lines are parallel, intersecting, or skewed;

10. find the equation of the plane, in the form xi + yj + zk = d, r.n = d, given a point in the
plane and the normal to the plane.

Content

 x
 
1. Expression of a given vector in the form  y  or xi + yj + zk.
z
 
2. Equality, addition and subtraction of vectors; multiplication by a scalar.
3. Position vectors, unit vectors, displacement vectors.
4. Length (magnitude/modulus) and direction of a vector.
5. Scalar (Dot) Product.
6. Vector equation of a line.
7. Equation of a plane.

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 VECTORS
Definition: A vector is a quantity having both magnitude (length) and direction. Examples of
vectors are velocity, weight and displacement. Speed is the magnitude of velocity, mass is the
magnitude of weight and distance is the magnitude of displacement.

Representation of a vector

(i) A vector may be represented by an arrow or a directed line segment. The length of the arrow
represents the magnitude (norm). The direction of the arrow represents the direction of the
vector.

(ii) The vector giving the displacement from A to B may be written AB or some lower case letter
may be used e.g. AB  a  a .

B
A is the initial/starting point.
B is the terminal/ending point.

a
A
Equal vectors
Two vectors are considered to be equal if:
(1) they have line segments of the same length and
(2) their line segments are pointed in the same direction.
B Q

x - units x - units

AB  PQ

A P
Negative Vectors
The negative of any vector is the vector of equal length but opposite direction.

B B

x - units x - units

A A

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BA has the same magnitude/length as AB , but its direction is reversed. Hence, AB   BA .

BA is the inverse/negative of AB . For example , if AB  a , then BA  a.

Addition of vectors

Triangle of vectors
R, S and T are three points marked out in a field. A man walked from R to S (i.e. RS ) and then
walked from S to T (i.e. ST ). Instead the man could have walked from R to T, thus describing the
RT .
RST
S In
A RT  RS  ST

R T
A
Now going from R to T direct has the same result as going from R to T via S. We therefore call RT
the resultant of RS and ST . Note carefully that the arrows on RS and ST follow head to tail. The
resultant RT is marked with a double arrow, which opposes the arrows on RS and ST .

Triangle Law: This states that the resultant of any two vectors is equal to the length and
direction of the line needed to complete the triangle.

Parallelogram of vectors
Two vectors maybe added by drawing a parallelogram of vectors. The sum or resultant of two vectors
OA and OB is the diagonal OC of the parallelogram formed on OA and OB as two adjacent sides.
B C
OAC
b OC  OA  AC
OB  AC
OC  OA  OB
OC  a  b

Unit Vectors
A vector of magnitude one (1) unit in any direction is the unit vector for that direction.

Displacement Vectors
Displacement vector is a vector which gives the position of a point with reference to a point other than
the origin of the coordinate system.

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Exercise #1: If AB  2i  4 j , (i) sketch AB and (ii) find the magnitude of AB.

The magnitude/length of a vector

The magnitude of a vector AB is noted by AB and is called its modulus.

Exercise #1: If OA  3i  5 j and OB  5i  2 j , find (i) AB. and (ii) AB.

Exercise #2: If z1 = 2i + 4j and z2 = 5i + 2j, find (i) z1 + z2.

(ii) z2 – z1.

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Vectors in Space
Z
The axes of reference are defined by the „right hand‟ rule.
OX, OY, OZ form a right-handed set if rotation from OX
to OY takes a right-handed corkscrew action along the
positive direction of OZ.

O Y
Similarly, rotation from OY to OZ gives right-handed
corkscrew action along the positive direction of OX.

X Z

Vector OP is defined by its components, a along OX,

P
b along OY and c along OZ.
c
b Let i be the unit vector in OX direction,
a O Y j be the unit vector in OY direction and
k be the unit vector in OZ direction.
L
Then OP  ai + bj + ck
X Also OL2 = a2 + b2 and OP2 = OL2 + c2
OP2 = a2 + b2 + c2
Now, if r = ai + bj + ck, then r = a2  b2  c2

Exercise: Given PQ  6i + 4j + 3k, what is PQ ?

Scalar Product of two vectors


b

If a and b are two vectors, the scalar product of a and b is defined as he scalar (number) ab cos 
where a and b are the magnitudes of the vectors a and b and  is the angle between them. The scalar
(dot) product is denoted by a.b where a.b = ab cos  = a b cos  .

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Case #1: When  =900, a.b = ab cos  = ab cos 900 = ab (0) = 0.
The scalar (dot) product of any two vectors at right – angles to each other is always zero.

Case #2: When  =00, a.b = ab cos  = ab cos 00 = ab (1) = ab.

NB: If two vectors a = a1i + a2j + a3k and b = b1i + b2j + b3k are expressed in terms of the unit vectors
i, j and k.
a.b = a1b1+ a2 b2 + a3 b3

Exercise: Given a = 2i + 3j + 5k and b = 4i + j + 6k, evaluate a.b.

Exercise: Let a = (8, -4) and b = (2, 1).

(a) Show that a.b = b.a
(b) Find the angle  between a and b.
(c) Find a vector that is parallel to a.
(d) Find a vector that is perpendicular to a.

Exercise:
Find all values of a such that the vector q = (2, a, –2) is perpendicular to the vector p = (–3, a, 5).

Exercise:
Show that the vectors A = 2i + 8j + 3k and B = 3i – 3j + 6k are orthogonal (perpendicular).

Vector Equation of a line

We want to write down the equation of a line in three dimensions. We will need a vector function. In
two dimensions we need the slope (m) and a point that was on the line in order to write down the
equation. In 3-D that is still all that we need except in this case the “slope” won‟t be a simple number
as it was in two dimensions. In this case we will need to acknowledge that a line can have a three
dimensional slope. So, we need something that will allow us to describe a direction that is potentially
in three dimensions. We already have a quantity that will do this for us. Vectors give directions and
can be three dimensional objects.

Suppose that we know a point that is on the line, P0  ( x0 , y0 , z0 ) , and that v  (a, b, c) is some vector
that is parallel to the line. Note, in all likelihood, will not be on the line itself. We only need to be

parallel to the line. Finally, let P  ( x, y, z ) be any point on the line.

Now, since our “slope” is a vector let‟s also represent the two points on the line as vectors. We‟ll do

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this with position vectors. So, let r0 and r be the position vectors for P0 and P respectively. Also, for

no apparent reason, let‟s define to be the vector with representation P0 P.

We now have the following sketch with all these points and vectors on it.

Now, we‟ve shown the parallel vector, , as a position vector but it doesn‟t need to be a position
vector. It can be anywhere, a position vector, on the line or off the line, it just needs to be parallel to
the line.

Next, notice that we can write as follows, r  r0  a

Now, notice that the vectors and are parallel. Therefore, there is a number, t, such that .

We now have, r  r0  t v  ( x0 , y0 , z0 )  t (a, b, c)

This is called the vector form of the equation of a line.

The only part of this equation that is not known is the t. Notice that will be a vector that lies along
the line and it tells us how far from the original point that we should move. If t is positive we move
away from the original point in the direction of (right in our sketch) and if t is negative we move
away from the original point in the opposite direction of (left in our sketch). As t varies over all
possible values we will completely cover the line. The following sketch shows this dependence on t of
our sketch.

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Rewriting:

The parametric form of the equation of a line is listed as:

x  x0  ta y  y0  tb z  z0  tc
x  x0 , y  y0 z  z0
t t t
a t c

Exercise:
(1) Find the vector equation of the line passing through (1, -1, 4) in the direction of the
vector (3, 5, -2).

(2) Write the equation of the line that passes through the points P = (2, -1, 3) and Q = (1, 4, -3).
Write the equation in different forms.

(3) The points P(3, -2, 1), Q(-1 ,  , 5) and R(2, 1, -4) are three vertices of a triangle PQR.

(i) Express each of the vectors PQ , QR and RP in the form xi + yj + zk.

(ii) Hence, find the value of  , given that PQR is right-angled with the side PQ as
hypotenuse.

 1   2
   
(4) Let u =   3  and v = 3
 1  be two position vectors in ℝ .
 2  5
   

(i) Calculate the lengths of u and v respectively.

(ii) Find cos  where  is the angle between u and v in ℝ3.

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