CIE Centre A-level

Pure Maths

P1 Chapter 13

© Adam Gibson
 4.213
  3 2 0 
scalars  
234  2 3 1 
 0 1 3
17  
2  7i matrices

2
vectors
r  a  t
uv
operators

geometrical
objects tensors
 VECTORS

A vector is a mathematical object which has two properties:

SIZE
SIZE & direction
SIZE
SIZE
SIZE
SIZE
SIZE Examples of vector quantities:

velocity, force, distance, temperature, torque

Vectors in 2D – the basics

We can write a vector in the x-y plane as a certain number

of x-units and a certain number of y-units.

When you write

p vectors, you should
4 underline them
3

This vector is specified by 3 units in the x-

direction and 4 units in the y-direction.
We can write it as p  3i  4 j
 3
or as p    ; 3 and 4 are the components
 4 In the x- and y-directions.
Vectors in 2D – the basics - magnitude

The magnitude of a vector is another name for its size.

What is the size

p of this vector?
4

It can be calculated using Pythagoras’

theorem.
The size is the same as the length,
which is
3 4 5
2 2
|p| 5
 Vectors in 2D – the basics - location

Question: Where is the vector p  3i  4 j ?

Answer: everywhere!
A vector can represent a simple translation
 Unit vectors

A unit vector can be

calculated in any direction
by dividing by the magnitude.

1 unit j
i 1 unit
Every vector in the x-y
plane can be expressed as
a linear combination of i and j.

Write the vector from (2,7) to (8,-5) in terms of i and j.

Calculate the unit vector in the direction of
the vector 3i  3 j
Vector arithmetic

The rules for adding and subtracting vectors are easy..

The Parallelogram Rule… Now look at Fig 13.5

means that a  b  b  a p. 191
Vector arithmetic – continued.

Hence you should see that:

“the commutative rule for the addition of vectors is a
consequence of the commutative rule for the addition of
real numbers”.
 2  4
If p    q    , what is the magnitude of p + q ?
 8   4
Subtraction is no different:

Calculate the magnitude of

abc
 2 4 1 and illustrate your
where a    b    c    calculation on a graph.
 2  1  3
Vector arithmetic – continued.

Q: We can add and subtract vectors, but can we multiply

or divide them?

The answer is yes and no.

Multiplication by a scalar.
Illustrate, on a graph, the meaning of q  sr s  
How is the picture different if s < 0 or s > 0?

a  sa  Now try Q 3, 5 and 10

r     sr    on page 194.
b  sb 
Vectors – 3D

Vectors in 3 dimensions are very useful for solving

real world (or virtual world!) problems.
3D vs 2D compared.

Q: Consider everything we’ve learnt about lines, equations

and calculus. Is it different in a 3 dimensional coordinate
system?
•Non-parallel lines don’t always cross. Such lines are
called skew.
•Gradient – it’s not defined purely by a number. The
direction of a line is only defined by a vector.
•Planes in 3D are the equivalent of lines in 2D. Non-parallel
planes always do cross. We will study how to represent
planes in vector form later.
The “scalar product” or “dot product”

The scalar product is defined, for any 2 vectors p and q,

as:
p.q | p || q | cos 
1. Why do we call it a “scalar” product?
2. What is |p|?
3. What is the angle θ?
4. If x=24 and p=3i+2j, what is x.p?
5. What is the real meaning of the dot product?

The dot product gives a quantitative measure

of the extent to which 2 vectors are collinear.
The “scalar product” or “dot product” - continued

The dot product a.b is.. zero

b

a
b
The dot product a.b is..
|a||b|
a

If |a|=|b|=1, then
b 0.5
the dot product a.b is..

3
a
The “scalar product” or “dot product” - continued

What does it mean if p.q = 0? The vectors are

perpendicular.

What is p.p? It’s the square of the magnitude

Of the vector, |p|2

In component form
Assume the distributive rule:

 p  q  .r  p.r  q.r See p. 205 –

you don’t need to prove this

Then remembering i.i = j.j = k.k = 1 and

i.j = j.k = i.k = 0,
The “scalar product” or “dot product” - continued

We thereby get the very useful result:

a  d 
   Which means we don’t need
 b  .  e   ad  be  cf to use trigonometric functions
c  f 
   to calculate dot products.

In particular we can see that a.a = |a|2 implies:

| a | ax 2  a y 2  az 2 (note that this can be extended to
any number of dimensions!)
TASKS

1. Find the magnitude of each of the following vectors.

2. Which vectors are perpendicular?
3. What is the angle between p and q (in radians, 1d.p.)?
4. **Can you find a vector skew to all these four?

 3 9  1   0
       
p   2  , q   3  , r   3  , s   2 
1  3   3   4 
   2     

A: |p| = √14, |q|=√369/2,|r|= √19,s=2 √5

p and r are perpendicular, p and s are perpendicular,
Angle between p and q is: cos-10.5426 = 1.0 radian