Angle Between Two Vectors and Perpendicular and Parallel Vectors

Dot Product

The dot product of vectors u = hu1 , u2 i and v = hv1 , v2 i is

u v = u1 v1 + u2 v2
The same is true for vectors in the form u = u1 i + u2 j and v = v1 i + v2 j.
The Magnitude of a Vector
The magnitude of a vector v can be found using
the dot product.
v v = ||v||2
Angle Between Two Vectors
both of which are nonzero then,
cos =

If is the angle between two vectors u and v

uv
||u|| ||v||

where 0 180
Perpendicular and Parallel Vectors
Two vectors are perpendicular or orthog
onal if the angle between them is 90 .
More to the point, two vectors are orthogonal if
their dot product is 0.
Two vectors are parallel if they lie on the same line.
That
is, two vectors are parallel if the angle between them is 0 or 180 .

Problem 3:
Find the angle (in degrees) between vectors u and v and determine
whether the vectors are perpendicular, parallel, or neither.
u = 3i 4j and v = 7i + j
Solution Step 1:
Find u v.
u v = u1 v1 + u2 v2
= 3741

Plug in values

= 21 4

Multiply

= 17

Add

Solution Step 2:
Find ||u||.
||u||2 = u u
||u||2 = u1 2 + u2 2

Replace dot product formula

||u||2 = 32 + (4)2 Plug in values

||u||2 = 9 + 16

Square

||u||2 = 25

Add

||u||

Square-root

||u||

= 5

25

Simplify

NOTE: We do not need to worry about since the magnitude of a vector is the
vectors length and therefore is always positive.

Solution Step 3:

Find ||v||.
||v||2 = v v
||v||2 = v1 2 + v2 2 Replace dot product formula
||v||2 = 72 + 12

Plug in values

||v||2 = 49 + 1

Square

||v||2 = 50

Add

||v||
||v||

50

= 5 2

Square-root
Simplify

NOTE: We do not need to worry about since the magnitude of a vector is the
vectors length and therefore is always positive.

Solution Step 4:
Put the values from steps 1 through 3 into the angle formula to find the
angle.
cos =

uv
||u|| ||v||

cos =

17

55 2

Plug in values

cos =

17

25 2

Multiply denominator

arccos(cos ) = arccos (
61.26

17
) Take the arccos to find
25 2
Simplify

Solution:
The angle between u and v is 61.26 . u and v are therefore neither
perpendicular nor parallel.