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Chapter 1.
Vectors in
n
R
and
n
C
, spatial vectors
A vector
v
is a member of a Vector Space
n n
C , R
.
If
V v , u
where V is a vector space, and
,
are
scalars (numbers) then
v u ) v u ( + +
,
u u u ) ( + +
,
u ) ( ) u (
are all in V .
A vector is an ordered collection of numbers
(quantities), an array.
e.g.
0.1] 3.5 - 3 . 2 [ v
off) on on off on on ( v
yellow) white blue green blue ( v
In physics, vectors are things with a magnitude
and a direction. Or, it is a point in a space.
) 3 , 4 (
vector addition, vector amplifications.
We may depict a vector either as a row of
numbers or a column of numbers. It is up to us,
but weve to be consistent.
If
) u ,..., u , u ( u
n 2 1
then
1
1
1
1
]
1
n
2
1
t
u
..
u
u
u v
is the
transpose of the vector
u
. Conversely,
u v
t
.
Here,
vector row u
, vector column v
Vector addition, scalar multiplication. Negation of
a vector ( if v, then what is v?).
A vector
) u ,..., u , u ( u
n 2 1
is a tuple in an n-space.
The components
i
u
are also called coordinates,
entries, elements, etc.
One may consider a set of unit vectors comprising
this ) C or ( R
n n
space. The corresponding vector-
space that it collectively spans allows us to express
each vector as follows:
k
n
1 k
k n n k k 2 2 1 1
u i u i ... u i ... u i u i u
+ + + + +
then
n
1 i
2
i
u || u ||
u
is a unit vector if
1 || u ||
.
Therefore,
|| v ||
v
v
is a unit vector.
Accordingly, if
u
and
v
are two points in the n-
space
n
R
, the distance between them is
PQ
where
,
_
n
1 i
2
i i
) v u ( PQ
if the notion of a distance is meaningful in that
space.
In such a space, the dot product (or the inner
product) between two vectors is defined in this
way:
v
P
u
Q
For
) u ,..., u , u , u ( u
n 3 2 1
and
) v ,..., v , v ( v
n 2 1
, the
dot product is
v . u
or
> < v | u
(this Dirac notation
will be explained shortly)
+ + + > <
i
i i n n 2 2 1 1
v u ) v u ... v u v u ( v | u v . u
In terms of the physics-metaphor
cos | v || u | v | u > <
, where is the angle
between the two vectors.
The norm of a vector
u
is then
> < u | u
. We
should be careful. This is only one variety of norm
that we can think of with a vector. In fact, we can
have a number of them:
n
1 i
i 1 1
| u | || u || : norm l
|| u || || u || : norm l
2 2
as we have defined it.
p / 1
n
1 i
p
i p p
| u | || u || : norm l
,
_
| u | max || u || : norm l
i
i
For our sake, wed mostly consider
norm l
2
.
An inner product space V is a vector space where
norm of a vector is defined and one could form a
dot product
> < v | u
between any pair of vector
u
and
v
in it with the following conditions:
1.
0 u | u > <
the length of a vector is never
negative.
2.
> > < < u | v v | u
symmetry
3.
> < + > < > + < v | w v | u v | w u
4.
> < > < v | u v | u
with
a constant
5.
v | v u | u v u | v u > < + > < > + + <
triangle
inequality
6.
> >< < > < v | v u | u v | u
Cauchy-Schwarz
inequality
ex.
2) - 3 (1 v 1) - 0 2 ( u
5 1 0 4 u | u + + > <
14 4 9 1 v | v + + > < and
14 5 0 (-2)) (-1) 3 0 1 (-2 v | u + + > <
ex. Let
2
R V
be an inner product space where
the dot products are defined in the following term:
bd ac )) d , c ( ), b , a (( +
Then 0 b a )) b , a ( ), b , a ((
2 2
+ (condition 1 is
fulfilled and
2
R
is an inner product space.
ex. A polynomial space
n
P
is an inner product
space where every vector is an n-degree
polynomial (polynomial-format?) like
n
n
2
2 1 0
x a ... x a x a a ) x ( p + + + +
n
n
2
2 1 0
x b ... x b x b b ) x ( q + + + +
Then
n n 1 1 0 0
b a ... b a b a q | p + + + > <
is an inner
product between two such vectors in
n
P
.
Another inner product in
n
P
may be defined as
> <
1
0
dx ) x ( q ) x ( p q | p
ex. Another inner product space is the space of
continuous functions where the dot product
between
) x ( f
and
) x ( g
is defined as
> <
-
f(t)g(t)dt g | f
In this set up, the basis set
} ,..., v , v { S
2 1
is an
infinite set of vectors like
2
1
v
1
,
t cos
1
v
2
,
t sin
1
v
3
,
nt cos
1
v
n 2
,
nt sin
1
v
1 n 2
+
That these form an orthonormal basis is evident
from the fact that
n m for 0 dt nt sin mt cos
,
n m for 0 dt nt cos mt cos
... v i
v i
v i
v + + + +
if each
S i
k
.
A vector space may have several distinct bases but
each will have same number of basis vectors in
them. The number of basis vectors spanning a
vector space is called the dimension of a vector
space.
Ex. The standard basis spanning the
3
R
is the set
of three vectors
} e , e , e { S
3 2 1
where
0) 1 0 ( e , 0) 0 1 ( e
2 1
and
1) 0 0 ( e
3
Any three-dimensional vector can be expressed in
this basis. e.g.
3 2 1
e 3 e 5 4e 3) 5 - 4 ( v +
Obviously other bases in this vector space are
possible. Suppose, we choose these as our basis set
} u , u , u { ' S
3 2 1
with
2) 3 (0 u 1), 2 - 1 ( u
2 1
and
1) - 1 2 ( u
3
Then,
3 3 2 2 1 1
u u u 3) 5 - 4 ( v + +
and the
coefficients are determined by the equations
3 2
5 3 2
4 2
3 2 1
3 2 1
3 1
+
+
+
Distances, angle and projections
The distance between the two vectors (the distance
between the terminals of the two vectors)
> < v | u ) v , u ( d
If
u
and
v
are vectors in an inner product space
V, the angle between these two vectors is given
by
|| v |||| u ||
v | u
cos
> <
The two vectors are orthogonal (perpendicular to
each other) if
0 v | u > <
Projection of a vector on another vector (see the
diagram)
Projection of
u
on vector
v
is
v
u proj( u.v )
is
v
<u.v> u.v
u proj( u.v ) u cos = ||u||
||u||||v|| || v ||
< >
v
u
u cos