Matrices and Basic Calculus

for Non-Majors – MT161

Idrissa S. A.
Amour.Idrissa@udsm.ac.tz

Cross Product
Department of Mathematics - UDSM
November 14, 2022
Cross Product
Review of Determinants:
a1 a2
∣ ∣ = a1 b2 − a2 b1
b1 b2

RRRa1 a2 a3 RRR
RRR RR b2 b3 b1 b3 b1 b2
RRRRb1 b2 b3 RRRRR = a1 ∣ c2 c3 ∣ − a2 ∣ c1 c3 ∣ + a3 ∣ c1 c2 ∣
RRR c1 c2 c3 RRR
Definition: The cross product of two vectors
#» #»
a = (a1 , a2 , a3 ) and b = (b1 , b2 , b3 ) is defined as
#» #» #» #» #»
a × b = (a2 b3 −a3 b2 ) i −(a1 b3 −a3 b1 ) j +(a1 b2 −a2 b1 ) k
#»
Components of the #» a × b are determinants of order 2
ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 2 / 20
Cross Product
Alternatively, one can write using determinants as:

#» #» a a #» a a #» a a #»
a × b = ∣ 2 3∣ i − ∣ 1 3∣ j + ∣ 1 2∣ k
b2 b3 b1 b3 b1 b2

or determinant of order 3 as
RRR #» #» #»RRR
#» #» RRR i j k RRR
a × b = RRRa1 a2 a3 RRR
RRR RR
RRb1 b2 b3 RRR
#» #» #» #» #» #»
Example: Let a = 4 i − 2 j + 5 k and b = 3 i + j − k .
#»
Find #»
a × b.
ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 3 / 20
Cross Product

#» #» −2 5 #» 4 5 #» 4 −2 #»
a × b =∣ ∣ i −∣ ∣ j +∣ ∣k
1 −1 3 −1 3 1
#» #» #»
= −3 i + 19 j + 10 k
Cross product of basis vectors:
RRR #» #» #»RR
#» #» RRR i j k RRR
0 0 #» 1 0 #» 1 0 #» #»
i × j = RRR 1 0 0 RRRR = ∣ ∣ i −∣ ∣ j +∣ ∣k = k
RRR RRR 1 0 0 0 0 1
RR 0 1 0 RR
RRR #» #» #»RR
#» #» RRR i j k RRR
0 0 #» 1 0 #» 1 0 #» #»
i × i = RRR 1 0 0 RRRR = ∣ ∣ i −∣ ∣ j +∣ ∣k = 0
RRR RRR 0 0 1 0 1 0
RR 1 0 0 RR
ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 4 / 20
Cross Product
Properties of Cross Product
#» #» #» #» #» #»
1 a × b = 0 if #» a = 0 or b = 0
#» #» #»
2 a × b = − b × #» a
#» #» #»
3 a × ( b + #» c ) = #»
a × b + #»a × #»
c distributive
#» #»
4 a + b ) × #»
( #» c = #» c + b × #»
a × #» c distributive
#» #» #» #»
5 a × (k b ) = (k #» a ) × b = k( #»
a × b ); k is scalar
#» #»
6 a × #»a = 0
#» #»
7 a ⋅ ( #»
a × b) = 0
#» #» #»
8 b ⋅(a × b) = 0

ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 5 / 20

orthogonalily with cross product

The last two properties, suggest that #»

a is orthogonal to
#» #» #» #» #»
a × b and b is orthogonal to a × b

#»
Generally when #»
a and b are nonzero vectors, then
#» #»
a × b is orthogonal to every vector in the plane
#»
containing #»
a and b .

#» #» #»
a × b is orthogonal to the plane containing #»
a and b

ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 6 / 20

orthogonalily with cross product
Right-handed System
If the fingers of the right hand point along the vector #»
a
#»
and the curl toward the vector b , then the thumb will
#»
give the direction of #»a×b

ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 7 / 20

Magnitude of cross product
#»
For nonzero vectors #»
a and b , if θ is the angle between
#» #»
a and b (0 ≤ θ ≤ π), then
#»
∣∣ #»
a × b ∣∣ = ∣∣a∣∣∣∣b∣∣ sin θ

Alternative form, one can write

#» #»
a × b = (∣∣a∣∣∣∣b∣∣ sin θ) #»
n

where #»n is a unit vector given by the right-hand rule.

#»
i.e orthogonal to the plane of #»
a and b
#»
Theorem: Two nonzero vectors #» a and b are parallel if
#» #»
and only if #»
a × b = 0.
ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 8 / 20
Parallel Vectors
#» #» #»
Example: Determine whether #» a = 2 i + j − k and
#» #» #» #»
b = −6 i − 3 j + 3 k are parallel vectors.

From the cross product

RRR #» #» #» RRR
#» #» RRR i j k RR
a × b = RR 2 1 −1RRRR
R
RRR R
RR−6 −3 3 RRRR
1 −1 #» 2 −1 #» 2 1 #»
=∣ ∣ i −∣ ∣ j +∣ ∣k
−3 3 −6 3 −6 −3
#» #» #» #»
= 0 i + 0 j + 0k = 0
#»
Hence, the vectors #»
a and b are parallel
ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 9 / 20
Vector Scalar Product
#»
Scalar triple product of vectors #»
a , b and #»
c is
#» #» #»
a ⋅ ( b × c ) defined as

#» #» #» #» #»
a ⋅ ( b × #»
c ) = (a1 i + a2 j + a3 k ) ⋅ (

b2 b3 #» b1 b3 #» b1 b2 #»
∣ ∣ i −∣ ∣ j +∣ ∣k)
c2 c3 c1 c3 c1 c2
b2 b3 b b b b
= a1 ∣ ∣ − a2 ∣ 1 3 ∣ + a3 ∣ 1 2 ∣
c2 c3 c1 c3 c1 c2
RRRa1 a2 a3 RRR
R R
= RRRRRb1 b2 b3 RRRRR
RRR c c c RRR
R 1 2 3R
ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 10 / 20
Vector Triple Product
#»
The vector triple product of three vectors #»
a , b , and #»
c
is defined as
#» #»
a × ( b × #»
c)
Vector triple product is related to the dot product by
#» #» #» #»
a × ( b × #»
c ) = ( #»
a ⋅ #»
c ) b − ( #»
a ⋅ b ) #»
c

Applications of Cross Product

Some applications in science and Engineering
1 Computing area of plane figures
2 Computing Volume of parallelepiped
3 Computing a torque of a force, etc
ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 11 / 20
Area of a parallelogram

The area A is computed as

A = base × altitude
#» #»
= ∣∣ b ∣∣(∣∣ #»
a ∣∣ sin θ) = ∣∣ #»
a ∣∣∣∣ b ∣∣ sin θ
#»
= ∣∣ #»
a × b ∣∣

ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 12 / 20

Area of a triangle

A parallelogram is made of two congruent triangles.

Hence, the area A is computed as
#»
A = ∣∣ #»
1
a × b ∣∣
2

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Area of a triangle
Example: Find the area of the triangle determined by
the points P1 (1, 1, 1), P2 (2, 3, 4), and P3 (3, 0, −1).
# » # »
The vectors P1 P2 and P2 P3 can be taken as the two
sides of the triangle, where
# » #» #» #» # » #» #» #»
P1 P2 = i + 2 j + 3 k , P2 P3 = i − 3 j − 5 k

RRR #» #» #» RRR
# » # » RRR i j k RRR #» #» #»
P1 P2 × P2 P3 = RRR 1 2 3 RRR = − i + 8 j − 5 k
RRR R
RR 1 −3 −5RRRR
The area A is then
1 # » # » 1√ 3√
A = ∣∣P1 P2 × P2 P3 ∣∣ = (−1)2 + 82 + (−5)2 = 10
2 2 2
ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 14 / 20
Volume of a Parallelepiped
#»
If the vectors #» a , b , and #» c do not lie in the same
plane, then the volume V of the parallelepiped with
#»
edges ∣∣ #»
a ∣∣, ∣∣ b ∣∣, and ∣∣ #»
c ∣∣

V = base area × height

#»
= ∣∣ b × #»
c ∣∣∣comp #»b × #»c #»
a∣
#» #»
#» #» #» b×c
= ∣∣ b × c ∣∣∣ a ⋅ ( #» #» ) ∣
∣∣ b × c ∣∣
#»
= #»
a ⋅ ( b × #»c)

ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 15 / 20

Coplanar Vectors
Vectors that lie in the same plane are said to be
#»
coplanar. We have just seen that if the vectors #»a, b,
and #»c are not coplanar, then necessarily
#» #»
a ⋅ ( b × #»
c ) ≠ 0, since the volume of a parallelepiped
#»
with edges #»a , b , and #»
c has nonzero volume.
#»
This means that if #» a ⋅ ( b × #»
c ) = 0, then the vectors #»
a,
#»
b , and #»
c are coplanar. Since the converse of this last
statement is also true, we have:
#» #» #»
a ⋅ ( b × #»
c ) = 0 if and only if #»
a , b , and #»
c are coplanar

ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 16 / 20

The Torque
#»
In mechanics a force F
acting at the end of a
position vector #»
r produces
#»
a torque τ defined by
#»
τ = F × #»
#» r
#»
if ∣∣ F ∣∣ = 20 N, ∣∣ #»
r ∣∣ = 3.5 m
o
and θ = 30 , then

∣∣ #»
τ ∣∣ = (3.5)(20 sin 30o )
= 70 Nm

ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 17 / 20

Linear independence
Definition
The vectors #»
v 1 , #»
v 2 , . . . , #»
v n are said to be lineary
dependent if there exit constants k1 , k2 , . . . , kn , not all
zeros, such that
#»
k1 #»
v 1 + k2 #»
v 2 + ⋯ + kn #»
vn= 0

Otherwise, #»
v 1 , #»
v 2 , . . . , #»
v n are said to be linearly
independent, i.e k1 = k2 = ⋯ = kn = 0.

Example: Determine whether the vectors (−1, 1, 0) and

(−2, 0, 1) are linearly dependent or linearly independent.
ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 18 / 20
Linear independence
Forming the equation
⎡−1⎤ ⎡−2⎤ ⎡0⎤
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
k1 ⎢ 1⎥ + k2 ⎢ 0⎥ = ⎢0⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0⎥ ⎢ 1⎥ ⎢0⎥
⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦
We obtain the homogeneous system
⎧
⎪ −k1 − 2k2 =0
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨k1 + 0k2 = 0 Ô⇒ k1 = k2 = 0
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩0k1 + k2
⎪ =0

Hence the vectors are linearly independent.

ISA MT161 – 2022/2023 19 / 20
Standard Basis Vectors for IR3
#» #» #»
In IR3 , the basis vectors i , j and k are linearly
independent, since the equation

k1 (1, 0, 0) + k2 (0, 1, 0) + k3 (0, 0, 1) = (0, 0, 0)

Ô⇒ k1 = k2 = k3 = 0

#» #» #»
The vectors i , j and k form the basis for IR3 . Any
vector in IR3 can be written as a linear combination of
the basis vectors.
#» #» #»
The vectors i , j and k are the standard basis for IR3
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