VECTOR & SCALAR

QUANTITIES

edgar.ubalde002@deped.gov.ph
SCALAR QUANTITY

• ONLY HAS MAGNITUDE (SIZE)

• INCLUDES DISTANCE, SPEED, TIME, TEMPERATURE,

MASS, LENGTH, AREA, VOLUME, DENSITY, CHARGE,
PRESSURE, ENERGY, WORK AND POWER.

• ANY REAL NUMBER IS AN EXAMPLE OF SCALAR

QUANTITY.
VECTOR QUANTITY
• BOTH MAGNITUDE & DIRECTION.
• AN ARROW ON THE TOP OF THE LETTER OFTEN
REPRESENTS VECTOR ( ).
• THE MAGNITUDE OF THE VECTOR IS
REPRESENTED BY |A| OR SIMPLY A.
• INCLUDES DISPLACEMENT, VELOCITY,
ACCELERATION, MOMENTUM, FORCE, LIFT,
DRAG, THRUST AND WEIGHT.
A VECTOR FIELD IS A FUNCTION THAT SPECIFIES
A VECTOR QUANTITY EVERYWHERE IN A REGION.
EXAMPLE: GRAVITATIONAL FORCE ON A BODY IN
SPACE.

A SCALAR FIELD IS A FUNCTION THAT SPECIFIES

A SCALAR QUANTITY EVERYWHERE IN A REGION.
EXAMPLE : TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION IN A
ROOM
WHAT SET VECTORS APART FROM SCALARS ?
A SINGLE VECTOR MAY ACT ON A SINGLE POINT
OR A MULTITUDE OF VECTORS ACTING
SIMULTANEOUSLY ON A GIVEN POINT.

VECTORS CAN GO ON THE SAME DIRECTION

CONCURRENTLY OR GO AGAINST EACH
OTHER. EITHER WAY YOU MAY BE ASK TO
DERIVE THE RESULTANT VECTOR.
ADDITION OF VECTORS
THIS IS A VECTOR:
THE LENGTH OF THE LINE SHOWS ITS MAGNITUDE
AND THE ARROWHEAD POINTS IN THE DIRECTION. WE
CAN ADD TWO VECTORS BY JOINING THEM HEAD-TO-
TAIL.
AND IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH ORDER WE ADD
THEM, WE GET THE SAME RESULT:
SUBTRACTION OF VECTORS
WE CAN ALSO SUBTRACT ONE VECTOR FROM
ANOTHER: FIRST WE REVERSE THE DIRECTION OF
THE VECTOR WE WANT TO SUBTRACT, THEN ADD
THEM AS USUAL:
A vector can also be written as the letters of its head and tail with an
arrow above it, like this:

To do the calculation, the most common way is to first break up

vectors into x and y parts, like this:

The vector a is broken up into the two vectors and

 Adding Vectors
WE CAN THEN ADD VECTORS BY ADDING THE X PARTS AND ADDING
THE Y PARTS:

THE VECTOR (8, 13) AND THE VECTOR (26, 7) ADD UP TO THE VECTOR (34,
20)
EXAMPLE: ADD THE VECTORS A = (8, 13) AND B = (26, 7)
C =A+ B
C = (8, 13) + (26, 7)
= (8+26, 13+7) = (34, 20)
ANOTHER TECHNIQUE
HEAD-TO-TAIL USED IN VECTOR ADDITION. HERE’S
METHOD
HOW IT WORKS:
PLACE THE TAIL OF THE SECOND VECTOR AT THE HEAD OF
THE FIRST VECTOR.
IF THERE ARE MORE THAN TWO VECTORS, PLACE THE TAIL OF
THE THIRD VECTOR AT THE HEAD OF THE SECOND VECTOR,
AND SO ON2.
THE RESULTANT VECTOR (OR SUM OF VECTORS) IS DRAWN
FROM THE TAIL OF THE FIRST VECTOR TO THE HEAD OF THE
LAST VECTOR.
THIS METHOD IS OFTEN USED BECAUSE IT PROVIDES A VISUAL
WAY TO ADD VECTORS. IT’S ESPECIALLY USEFUL WHEN
DEALING WITH PROBLEMS INVOLVING FORCES OR
VELOCITIES, WHERE VECTOR QUANTITIES NEED TO BE
PARALLELOGRAM METHOD

THIS IS A TECHNIQUE USED IN VECTOR ADDITION.

DRAW THE TWO VECTORS SUCH THAT THEIR TAILS TOUCH
EACH OTHER.
COMPLETE THE PARALLELOGRAM BY DRAWING THE OTHER
TWO SIDES.
THE DIAGONAL OF THE PARALLELOGRAM THAT HAS THE
SAME TAIL AS THE VECTORS REPRESENTS THE SUM OF THE
TWO VECTORS. THIS DIAGONAL IS OFTEN REFERRED TO AS
THE RESULTANT VECTOR.
SUBTRACTING VECTORS

TO SUBTRACT, FIRST REVERSE THE VECTOR WE WANT

TO SUBTRACT, THEN ADD
EXAMPLE: SUBTRACT K = (4, 5) FROM V = (12, 2)
A = V + −K
A = (12, 2) + −(4, 5)
= (12, 2) + (−4, −5)
= (12−4, 2−5) = (8, −3)
MAGNITUDE OF A VECTOR

SHOWN BY TWO VERTICAL BARS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE

VECTOR:|A| OR IT CAN BE WRITTEN WITH DOUBLE VERTICAL
BARS (SO AS NOT TO CONFUSE IT WITH ABSOLUTE VALUE): ||A||
WE USE PYTHAGORAS' THEOREM TO CALCULATE THE
MAGNITUDE
|C| = √+ )
EXAMPLE: WHAT IS THE MAGNITUDE OF THE VECTOR C = (6,
8)?
|C| = √(+ )
= √( 36+64)
= √100 = 10
ANGLED VECTORS HAVE TWO COMPONENTS

ANY VECTOR DIRECTED IN TWO DIMENSIONS CAN BE

THOUGHT OF AS HAVING AN INFLUENCE IN TWO
DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. THAT IS, IT CAN BE THOUGHT
OF AS HAVING TWO PARTS. EACH PART OF A TWO-
DIMENSIONAL VECTOR IS KNOWN AS A COMPONENT.
THE COMPONENTS OF A VECTOR DEPICT THE
INFLUENCE OF THAT VECTOR IN A GIVEN DIRECTION.
THE COMBINED INFLUENCE OF THE TWO COMPONENTS
IS EQUIVALENT TO THE INFLUENCE OF THE SINGLE
TWO-DIMENSIONAL VECTOR.
TRIGONOMETRIC METHOD OF VECTOR
RESOLUTION
TRIGONOMETRIC
FUNCTIONS RELATE THE
RATIO OF THE LENGTHS OF
THE SIDES OF A RIGHT
TRIANGLE TO THE MEASURE
OF AN ACUTE ANGLE WITHIN
THE RIGHT TRIANGLE.
A VECTOR CAN BE RESOLVED INTO TWO
COMPONENTS, NAMELY THE HORIZONTAL
COMPONENT AND THE VERTICAL COMPONENT.
IN FIGURE, A VECTOR F IS WORKING AT AN ANGLE OF Θ
WITH THE X-AXIS.
THE X-AXIS COMPONENT OF THIS VECTOR IS FX = F
COS Θ.
THE Y-AXIS COMPONENT IS FY = F SIN Θ.
 UNIT VECTORS
A UNIT VECTOR IS A
VECTOR WHOSE
MAGNITUDE IS 1.
UNIT VECTORS IN THREE
DIRECTIONS , AND
THE MAGNITUDES OF
THREE UNIT VECTORS ARE
AX = (1,0, 0),
AY = (0,1, 0) AND
AZ = (0,0, 1)
COSINE LAW
WHEN YOU HAVE TWO VECTORS THAT ARE NOT
AT RIGHT ANGLES TO EACH OTHER. TO FIND THE
MAGNITUDE YOU APPLY THE COSINE LAW.
SINE LAW IS USED TO FIND THE DIRECTION
BOARD WORK
FIND THE MAGNITUDE OF THE RESULTANT VECTOR
AND THE ANGLE BETWEEN IT AND VECTOR A BY
APPLYING PARALLELOGRAM METHOD GIVEN THE
VECTORS A WITH A MAGNITUDE OF 60 N AND B WITH
THE MAGNITUDE OF 70 N. THE ANGLE BETWEEN
VECTORS A AND B IS 125°.