1 VECTOR ALGEBRA

1.1 Introduction

A vector is a quantity having both magnitude and direction. Examples of vectors are
displacement, velocity, acceleration, momentum, and force.

Any vector may be represented algebraically by A

or A and its magnitude by A or A .

Graphically, a vector is represented by an arrow pointing in the direction of the vector and
whose length is proportional to the magnitude of the vector:



A unit vector denoted generally as e is a dimensionless vector having magnitude equal to
unity.

Any vector A may be represented in terms of a unit vector thus:

A e
A
= A (1)

where
A
e points in the same direction as A. Graphically we have:






1.2 Addition of Vectors

Any two vectors Aand B may be added together to obtain a third (resultant) vector C whose
effect is equivalent to that of the two vectors combined. Addition of vectors is illustrated
below:


Vector addition is commutative, that is

A B B A C + = + = (2)

Three or more vectors may be added in a similar manner as shown




The addition of three or more vectors is associative, that is

( ) ( ) C B A C B A + + = + + (3)


1.3 Product of Two Vectors: Scalar and Vector Products

Any two vectors A and B may be multiplied in such a way as to form a scalar quantity. This
is known as the scalar or dot product of the vectors and is defined as

u cos AB = B A (4)

where u is the angle between A and B.

An example of a scalar quantity obtained in this way is work, defined as

u cos Fr W = = r F (5)

The scalar product of a vector A with itself is given by

2 2
0 cos A A = = A A (6)

Therefore the magnitude of A may be written as

A A = A (7)

Two vectors A and B may also be multiplied to form a vector quantity. The new vector C is
referred to as the cross or vector product and is defined as

u sin AB e
C
= = B A C (8)

where
C
e is a unit vector in the direction of C.

By convention, this direction is taken to be the direction in which a screw rotated from vector
A to B would advance



The vector C is perpendicular to the plane containing vectors AandB.

An example of a cross product is the torque (moment of a force) defined as

u t
t
sin rF e = = F r (9)

The cross product of a vector with itself gives a vector O having zero magnitude and no
directional property.

O A A = (10)

NB: The scalar product is commutative while the vector product is not, that is

A B B A = (11)


A B B A = (12)