Chapter 5

Vectors and the Geometry of Space

If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two
frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.

—Mark Twain

Many quantities in geometry and physics, such as area, volume,energy, work, electrical resistance,
temperature, mass and time, can be characterized by single real numbers scaled to appropriate
units of measure. We call these scalar quantities, and the real number associated with each is
called a scalar. A scalar quantity has magnitude, including the sense of being positive or negative,
but no assigned position and no assigned direction.

Other quantities such as force, displacement, acceleration, momentum and velocity involve both
magnitude and direction and cannot be characterized by single real numbers. A vector is a quantity
having both magnitude and direction.

−→
Graphically a vector is represented by an arrow OP defining the direction, the magnitude of the
vector being indicated by the length of the arrow. The tail end O of the arrow is called the origin
or initial point of the vector, and the head P is called the terminal point or terminus. This arrow
−→
representing the vector is called a directed line segment. The length |OP | is the magnitude of the
line segment from O to P .

Vectors can be represented in text by bold-case letters, such as A, B, C and so on or lower-case

boldface letters such as a, b, c and so on. When written by hand, however, vectors are often
→
−
denoted by letters with arrows above them, such as → −
a , b and so on or a bar above, such as a, b
and so on or a bar below, such as a, b and so on. When the initial point of the vector is fixed, it is
called a fixed or localized vector, otherwise, it is a free vector.

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 Q terminal point
3

initial point
P

Figure 5.1: Directed line segment

5.1 Unit Vectors

A unit vector is a vector of unit length. A unit vector is sometimes denoted by eb or b

e . Therefore,
|b
e| = 1.
Any vector can be made into a unit vector by dividing it by its length, that is,
u
e= .
|u|
b

u
So is a unit vector in the direction of the vector u.
|u|

An important set of unit vectors are those having the directions of the positive x, y, and z axes of
a three dimensional rectangular coordinate system. Vectors will be denoted as
A = (A1 , A2 , A3 ) = A1 i + A2 j + A3 k,
where i, j and k are unit base vectors defined by
i = (1, 0, 0), j = (0, 1, 0) and k = (0, 0, 1).
The vectors A1 i, A2 j, and A3 k are called the rectangular component vectors or simply com-
ponent vectors of A in the x, y and z directions respectively. A1 , A2 and A3 are called the
rectangular components or simply components of A in the x, y and z directions respectively. The
magnitude or length of A is q
A = |A| = A21 + A22 + A23 .
In particular, the position vector or radius vector r from O to the point (x, y, z) is written as
r = xi + yj + zk
p
and has magnitude r = |r| = x2 + y 2 + z 2 . That is, i, j and k are three mutually perpendicular
vectors pointing along Ox, Oy and Oz axes respectively. These vectors are often called the basis
vectors.

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Example 5.1.1. Given A = 3i − 2j + k, B = 2i − 4j − 3k and C = −i + 2j + 2k, find the magnitudes
of (i) C, (ii) A + B + C and (iii) 2A − 2B − 5C.
p
Solution: (i) |C| = | − i + 2j + 2k| = (−1)2 + 22 + 22 = 3.

(ii) A+B+C = 3i−2j+k+2i−4j−3k−i+2j+2k p = (3+2−1)i+(−2−4+2)j+(1−3+2)k

√ √ =
2 2
4i − 4j + 0k. Then |A + B + C| = |4i − 4j + 0k| = 4 + (−4) = 32 = 4 2.

(iii) 2A − 3B − 5C = 2(3i − 2jp+ k) − 3(2i − 4j − 3k)

√ − 5(−i + 2j + 2k) = 5i − 2j + k. Then
2 2 2
|2A − 2B − 5C| = |5i − 2j + k| = 5 + (−2) + 1 = 30.
Example 5.1.2. Find the component form and magnitude of the vector A having initial point
(−2, 3, 1) and terminal point (0, −4, 4). Then find a unit vector in the direction of A.

Solution: The component form of A is

A = (0 − (−2), −4 − 3, 4 − 1) = (2, −7, 3)
which implies that its magnitude is
p √
|A| = 22 + (−7)2 + 32 = 62.
The unit vector in the direction of v is
 
A 1 2 −7 3
U= = √ (2, −7, 3) = √ , √ , √ .
|A| 62 62 62 62

5.2 Vectors in Rn

Euclidean 2-space, denoted by R2 , is the set of all vectors with two entries, that is
(   )
x

1
R2 = x , x ∈ R .

x2  1 2
Similarly, Euclidean 3-space, denoted by R3 , is the set of all vectors with three entries, that is
   
 x1  
R3 = x2  x1 , x2 , x3 ∈ R .

x3
  

In general, Euclidean n-space consists of vectors with n entries, usually denoted by Rn , is defined
by   

 x1 

x

    

 2  
 

n  x3  
R =   xi ∈ R, i = 1, 2, . . . , n .
  ..   


 . 



 x 

n

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5.2.1 Linear Combination

In 3-dimensional Euclidean space R3 , the coordinate vectors that define the three axis, are the
vectors      
1 0 0
e1 = 0 , e2 = 1 , e3 = 0 .
    
0 0 1
Every vector in R3 can be obtained from these coordinate vectors.

Example 5.2.1.        
2 1 0 0
v = 3 = 2 0 + 3 1 + 3 0 .
      
3 0 0 1

A vector written as a combination of other vectors using addition and scalar multiplication is
called a linear combination.

Example 5.2.2. If      
1 0 −1
v1 = 1 ,
 v2 = 1
 and v3 = 1  ,

1 1 1
 
2
then 3v1 − v2 + v3 = 3.
3

Definition 5.2.1. Let S = {v1 , v2 , · · · , vn } be a set of vectors in Rn , and let c1 , c2 , · · · , cn be

scalars. An expression of the form
k
X
c1 v 1 + c2 v 2 + · · · + ck v k = ci v i
i=1

is called a linear combination of the vectors of S.

 
−1
Example 5.2.3. Determine whether the vector v = 1  is a linear combination of the vectors

      10
1 −2 −6
v1 = 0 , v2 = 3 , v3 = 7 .
    
1 −2 5

Solution: The vector v is a linear combination of the vectors v1 , v2 and v3 , if there are scalars

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c1 , c2 and c3 , such that
 
−1
v =  1  = c1 v 1 + c2 v 2 + c3 v 3
10
     
1 −2 −6
= c1 0 + c2  3  + c3  7 
1 −2 5
 
c1 − 2c2 − 6c3
=  3c2 + 7c3  .
c1 − 2c2 + 5c3

Equating components gives the linear system

c1 − 2c2 − 6c3 = −1
3c2 + 7c3 = 1
c1 − 2c2 + 5c3 = 10.

To solve this linear system, we reduce the augmented matrix

   
1 −2 −6 −1 1 0 0 1
0 3 7 1  to 0 1 0 −2 .
1 −2 5 10 0 0 1 1

From the last matrix, we see that the linear system is consistent with the unique solution

c1 = 1, c2 = −2, c3 = 1.

Using the scalars, we can write v as the linear combination

       
−1 1 −2 −6
v =  1  = 1 0 + (−2)  3  + 1  7  .
10 1 2 5
 
−5
Exercise 5.2.1. Determine whether the vector v =  11  is a linear combination of the vectors
−7
     
1 0 2
v1 = −2 , v2 = 5 and v3 = 0 .
2 5 8

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