7.

Topic 2 — Lecture 7

This lecture will be used to finish off and/ or consolidate the material from Topic
2.
Exercise Let  
 a b c 
 
 
|A| =  d e f  = 1 .
 
 g h i 
Evaluate the following determinants:
     
 a b c   a −b c   d e f 
     
     
 g
 h i  ,  d −e f  ,  3g 3h 3i 
e f   g −h i   a
     
 d b c 
   
 2a 2b 2c   a b c
   

   
 2d 2e 2f  ,  d + a e+b f + c 
  
 2g 2h 2i   g − 2a h − 2b i − 2c 
   

8. Topic 3 — Lecture 8

Slides: pgs. 93–102. Exercises: Topic 3, Q.50–Q.57.

8.1. Vectors in R2 and R3 . In R2 and R3 points can be thought of as being

located by a directed straight line from the origin, and this gives us a geometrical
representation of a vector.
The basic operations applied to vectors are that of scalar multiplication and
vector addition. Both these can be represented geometrically, by scaling in the
case of scalar multiplication, and by the a head to tail rule for addition.
In R3 it is standard to denote the unit vectors in the directions of the x, y and
z axes respectively as i, j and k respectively. We then write

ai + bj + ck = (a, b, c)

This array is the standard notation for points in R3 , and is often referred to as a
row vector. The same array could be written
 
a
 
b
 
c

in which case it is referred to as a column vector.

The (Euclidean) length of a vector v = (a, b, c, ) ∈ R3 , denoted ||v||, is defined
√
as ||v|| = a2 + b2 + c2 which is consistent with Pythagoras’ theorem.
1
2

8.2. Vectors in Rn . Let e1 , e2 , . . . , en be the unit vectors making up the n per-

pendicular directions in Rn . We then write

x1 e1 + x2 e2 + · · · + xn en = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn )

which specifies a general vector in Rn .

The length of (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) ∈ Rn is defined as
q
||x|| = x21 + x22 + · · · x2n .

Let c ∈ R be a scalar. We have that

||cx|| = |c| ||x||.

Dot product Related to length is the notion of dot product. Let u = (u1 , . . . , un
and let v = (v1 , . . . , vn . The dot product of u and v is defined as

~u · ~v = u1 v1 + u2 v2 + · · · un vn .

Distance between two vectors

The fact that v + (u − v) = u tells us that geometrically the vector u − v
corresponds (by the head to tail rule) to a vector starting at v and finishing at u.
Hence the distance between vectors u and v is simply ||u − v||. Sometimes this
distance is denoted d(u, v).

9. Topic 3 — Lecture 9

Slides: pgs. 103–113. Exercises: Topic 3, Q.58, 59, 63–65.

9.1. Dot product and angle between two vectors. In the diagram θ is the
angle between the two vectors, and θ = φ − ρ. Recall u · · · v = as + bt. The aim is
to eliminate a, s, b, t in favour of ||u||, ||v|| and θ.
Here
a = ||u|| cos φ, b = ||u|| sin φ

s = ||v|| cos ρ, t = ||v|| sin ρ

Hence
 
u · v = ||u|| ||v|| cos φ cos ρ + sin φ sin ρ

= ||u|| ||v|| cos(φ − ρ)

= ||u|| ||v|| cos θ

We choose 0 ≤ θ ≤ π. Since the vectors are perpendicular when θ = π/2, we see

that in terms of the dot product, vectors are perpendicular when u · v = 0.
 3

9.2. Vector projection. Here, given a vector u (which is to be thought of as a

direction), the task is to orthogonally project a given vector v in the direction of
u. Denote the projected vector by p.
From trigonometry we have

||p|| = ||v|| cos θ

u
A unit vector in the direction of u is ||u|| .
Hence
u u·v
p = (||v|| cos θ) = u.
||u|| ||u||2
Exercise Verify that the vector q = v − p is perpendicular to p.
Exercise Let û and v̂ be the unit vectors corresponding to u and v respectively.
Show that
p = (û · v)û.

9.3. Cross product. The cross product is a particular rule for multiplying vectors
in R3 . The rule can be written in the short hand notation
 
 i j k 
 
 
u × v =  u1 u2 u3 
 
 v1 v2 v3 
Here it is required that the determinant be expanded along the first row, so this
means      
 u u3   u u3   u u2 
 2  1  1
u × v = i  − j  + k 
 v2 v3   v1 v3   v1 v2