CHAPTER 2

VECTORS

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 LEARNING OUTCOMES
 Find and describe lines and planes in three
dimensions using vectors and vector notation.

 Evaluate distances from a point to a plane.

 Find the point of intersection of a line and a plane,

 Find the line of intersection of two planes.

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 CHAPTER OUTLINE
 Vectors and Scalars
 Components
 Magnitude
 Addition and Subtraction of Vectors
 Multiplication by a Scalar
 Position Vectors
 Basic Vectors
 Collinearity
 Dividing Lines in a Ratio
 The Scalar Product
 The angle between vectors
 Perpendicular vectors
 Properties of the scalar product
 Cross/vector product
 The vector equation of a straight line
 The vector equation and Cartesian equation of a plane
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 VECTOR AND SCALARS
 A vector is a quantity that has both magnitude
and a direction in space.

 A scalar is a quantity having only magnitude.

 Vector denoted by a single lower case bold letter,

p or lower case and underline it (i.e. p) or by
putting an arrow above the letter OP.
⎯⎯→

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 EXERCISES
 Determine whether the following is a vector or scalar.
a) The distance between P and Q is 200m.
b) The volume of the prism is 65cm3.
c) The time taken to run round the block was
184s.
d) A man walks 2 km on a bearing of 062o.
e) A horizontal force of 3 N was applied at
right angles to the length of the book.
f) The velocity of the airplane is 800 km/h on
a bearing 158o.

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 DIRECTED LINE SEGMENT
 Vector represented by a directed line segment.

Direction of vectors
B

AB
End point of directed
A line segment

 The arrow represents the direction from A to B,

and
 The length of the line represents the magnitude of
the vector.
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 COMPONENT
 A vector may be represented by its component,
which we write it column.
 Example

a=  2  is vector in two dimensions

 3
 
 4 
b =  − 3 is vector in three dimensions
 1 
 

 Zero Vectors
 Any vector with all its components zero.
 Can be written as 0 =  0 
 
0
0
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015  
 MAGNITUDE

 The modulus of a vector is its magnitude.

 Simply the length of the vector

The modulus of the vector PQ is denoted by

⎯⎯→

the symbols | PQ |.
⎯⎯→

 The modulus of the vector a is written |a|.

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 MAGNITUDE
 It can be calculated as follows
⎯
⎯→ ⎯
⎯→
a
if PQ =   then PQ = a2 + b2
b

a
⎯
⎯→
  ⎯
⎯→
if PQ =  b  then PQ = a2 + b2 + c2
c
 

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 MAGNITUDE
Example
 5 
1. Given u =   , find |u|
 − 12 

− 5
 
2. Find the length of a =  6 
 
 3 

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 MAGNITUDE
Example
 5 
1. Given u =   , find |u|
 − 12 

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 MAGNITUDE
Example − 5
 
2. Find the length of a =  6 
 
 3 

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 MAGNITUDE
Distance in Three Dimensions
⎯⎯→

The distance between the points A and B is dAB = AB

The distance d between the point (x1 , y1 , z1 ) and (x 2 , y 2 , z 2 )

d= (x2 − x1 )
2
(
+ y2 − y1 ) + (z
2
2 − z1 ) 2
units

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 MAGNITUDE
 Example
 Find the distance between the points (-1, 4, 1) and
(0, 5, -7)

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TEST YOURSELF…
a)

b)

1
5
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 TEST YOURSELF…
a)

1
6
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 TEST YOURSELF…
b)

1
7
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 EQUALITY OF VECTORS
B

 Vectors are said to be equal D

only if: A
 They have the same magnitude
F
and direction. C
H
 The representation of equal
vectors therefore can be written as:
E
G
AB = CD = EF = GH
a and b are equal  a and b have the same direction and a = b .

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

  Example: EQUALITY OF VECTORS
Figure shows parallelogram
E D
ABDE and BCDE,

A B C

 The directed line segment AB, BC , and ED

have same magnitude and direction, therefore,

AB = BC = ED
 ED and DE have same magnitude but different
direction, therefore,
ED  DE

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 ZERO VECTORS
 In the directed line segment AB , when B and A are
overlapping, the directed line segment can be
considered as .
AA
 AAhas zero magnitude and unknown direction.
 Zero vector can be denoted by 0 or 0 .
~

a is a zero vector  a = 0.

 For any of the vector, we have

a +0 = a

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 NEGATIVE VECTORS
B
 The directed line segment
AB and CD are equal length but D

in opposite directions. A

o The vectors AB and CD are negative vectors of each

other and we write:

a = −b  a and b are in opposite direction and a = b .

AB = −CD or CD = − AB

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 ADDITION OF VECTORS
R
1) Triangle Law of Vector Addition
 In the triangle PQR, the vectors are
related as follows:
P Q
 Let PQ be the displacement from P to Q,
QR be the displacement from Q to R, and
PR be the displacement from P to R.

 In physical situation, the displacement PQfollowed by the

displacement QR is the displacement PR and we write:

PQ + QR = PR
 This process of adding the two vectors using the triangle PQR is
known as the triangle law of addition.

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 ADDITION OF VECTORS
2) Parallelogram Law of Vector Addition
 Refer to the parallelogram ABCD.

C C
v u+v

A u B

 Let the two vectors be the two sides of a parallelogram, which

starts at the same initial point, as in the figure above. Then
the sum of u+v is the diagonal of the parallelogram.
 Note: v = AC = BD, therefore u+v = AB + BD = AD
 This process of adding and using the parallelogram ABCD is
known as the Parallelogram law. (same as the triangle law
for addition.

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 ADDITION OF VECTORS
 Addition of vectors is said to be commutative and
associative whereby

a+b = b+a Commutative Law

(it does not matter which way round you add two vectors )
(a + b ) + c = a + (b + c) Associative Law
(it does not matter in which order you add vectors )

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 SUBTRACTION OF VECTORS

 Using negative vector,

 The subtraction of vectors can be defined as:
a – b = a + (-b)
 Example 1: a − b = OA − OB
(
= OA + − OB ) B

b a-b
= OA + BO
= BO + OA
O A
= BA a

 In another words, the subtraction of vector a and b, (a –

b) is to move both a and b to a same starting point,
using the end point of b as starting point and the end
point of a as the end point.
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 TEST YOURSELF

1) Simplify :

a) AB + BC + CF
b)
PQ + ST + QS + TU
c)
AC − FC − HF
d)
PQ + QR + QS + RQ

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TEST YOURSELF

1) Simplify :

a) AB + BC + CF

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TEST YOURSELF

1) Simplify :

b)
PQ + ST + QS + TU

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TEST YOURSELF

1) Simplify :

c)
AC − FC − HF

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TEST YOURSELF

1) Simplify :

d) PQ + QR + QS + RQ

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

USING COMPONENTS
 x1   x2 
a =  , b =  
 y1   y2 
(a) a = b  x1 = x2 , y1 = y2
 x1   kx1 
(b) ka = k   =  , where k is a scalar.
 y1   ky1 
 x1   x2   x1 + x2 
(c) a + b =   +   =  
 y1   y2   y1 + y2 
 x1   x2   x1 − x2 
(d ) a − b =   −   =  
 y1   y2   y1 − y2 
 x1   x2   mx1 + nx2 
ma + nb = m  + n  =  
 y1   y2   my1 + ny2 
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 TRY YOURSELF…

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TRY YOURSELF…

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TRY YOURSELF…

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 PROPERTIES OF VECTORS
 If a, b and c are vectors in two or three dimensions
and c and d are scalars(i.e. numbers) then,
 1) a + b = b + a

 2) a + (b + c) = ( a + b ) + c

 3) a + 0 = a

 4) a + (‒a) = 0

 5) c(a+b) = c a + c b

 6) (c+d)a = c a + d a

 7) (cd) a = c(da)

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 SCALAR MULTIPLICATION OF A VECTOR
 Scalar multiplication means multiplying a vector
by a scalar, which is a number.
 The results of multiplication will be another
vector.
 For example: a
 2a can be defined as 2a = a + a
 2a is a vector in the same direction as a but 2a
has twice the magnitude of a.
 5a can be defined as 5a = a + a + a + a + a 5a
 Similar to 2a, 5a is in the same direction as a

but has five times its magnitude.

-3a
 -3a can be defined as -3a = - a - a - a
 Vector -3a is in the opposite direction to a

and has three times its magnitude.

 In general,
The vector a , where   0, is in the same direction as a
but its magnitude is  times that of a.
 SCALAR MULTIPLICATION OF A VECTOR
 Scalar multiplication of a vector fulfill the below law
and other properties:
 Distributive Law


k (a + b ) = ka + kb
h(ka ) = (hk ) a
(h + k )a = ha + ka

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TRY YOURSELF…
1) Given that a = ‒3i + 2j and b = 4i – 7j, find:
(a) a + b
(b) a – b
(c) |a – b|
2) Given
 2  − 2 10 
a =  , b =  , and ka + lb =  , find the value of k and l.
5  3  1

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TEST YOURSELF…

4
1
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 PARALLEL VECTORS

 From scalar multiplication of vector,

 If two vectors a and b are parallel then one is a
scalar multiple of the other, that is:
a = b
 If  is positive then a is in the same direction
as b.
 If  is negative then a is in the opposite
direction to b.
a
a
or
b
b

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 NON-PARALLEL VECTORS
 If a and b are not parallel and a + b = a + b,
where , , ,  are scalars, then:
 a - a = b - b
( - )a = ( - )b
 ( - )  ( - ) since a and b are not parallel.
except when  -  = 0 and  -  = 0.
that is:  = , and  = .

a + b = a + b where a and b are non − parallel

  =  and  =  .

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 PARALLEL VECTORS

a = b

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 PARALLEL VECTORS

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 PARALLEL VECTORS

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 PARALLEL VECTORS

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 PARALLEL VECTORS

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 TEST YOURSELF…

4
9
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 EXAMPLE:
 Non-zero vectors, a and b are not parallel. If
(m-3)a=(n-m+1)b, find the values of m and n?

 The vectors a and b are not parallel and

⎯⎯→ ⎯⎯→ ⎯⎯→ ⎯⎯→
( −  ) a + (  + 1) b = 7 a − ( + 2) b
where  and  are scalar. Find the value of  and 

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 EXAMPLE:
 Non-zero vectors, a and b are not parallel. If
(m-3)a=(n-m+1)b, find the values of m and n?

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 EXAMPLE:
 The vectors a and b are not parallel and
⎯⎯→ ⎯⎯→ ⎯⎯→ ⎯⎯→
( −  ) a + (  + 1) b = 7 a − ( + 2) b
where  and  are scalar. Find the value of  and 

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 UNIT VECTOR
 A unit vector is a vector whose magnitude (modulus)
is 1.
 Any vector of magnitude 1 unit is a unit vector ( i, j
and k are all unit vectors).
 Any vector can be made into a unit vector by
dividing it by its length.
 The vector a has magnitude |a|= a.
a
 So a unit vector in the same direction as a is
a

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 CARTESIAN COMPONENTS OF A VECTOR IN 2D
◦ If Vector P has coordinates (x, y) in a Cartesian plane, then the
position vector of P can be written as:
Let position vector OP = p.
 Coordinates

 Row vector: p = (x, y).

 Column vector:
 x y
 Unit vector
p =  
 y
 p = xi + yj P (x, y)
Where i and j are unit vectors in the
positive direction along the x-axis and p
the y-axis respectively.
 The unit vector in the direction of p is
x
a xi + yj O
aˆ = =
a x2 + y2

The magnitude of the vector P, p = x + y

2 2


M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 CARTESIAN COMPONENTS OF A VECTOR IN 3D

◦ If P has coordinate of (x, y, z)

Then:
z P (x, y, z)
 The magnitude or modulus of OP
OP = (x 2
+ y2 + z2 )
y
 The unit vector in the direction of OP
is
OP = xi + yj + zk
O
◦ Assume that the vectors i, j, and k x
are unit vectors of in the positive
direction along the x-axis, y-axis,
and z-axis respectively.
xi + yj + zk
unitvector =
(x 2
+ y2 + z2 )
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 EXAMPLE…

5
7
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 EXAMPLE…

xi + yj + zk
unitvector =
(x 2
+ y2 + z2 )

5
8
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 EXAMPLE…

xi + yj + zk
unitvector =
(x 2
+ y2 + z2 )

5
9
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 TEST YOURSELF…
1) If a = 2i +7j, find ‫׀‬a ‫׀‬. Hence, find the unit vector.

2) Find a unit vector in the direction of - 2i + 5j.

3)

6
0
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 TEST YOURSELF…

6
1
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 EXAMPLE…

6
2
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 POSITION VECTOR
 The position of a point A with respect
to an origin O is indicated by the
directed line segment . This OA vector A
is called the
OA position vector of A.
◦ The line segment representing
starts at O and ends at A and uniquely O
OA
defines the position of A.
◦ Example 1:
y
Suppose you have two points A and B.
The position vector of A is = a. The position B
vector of B is = b. b-a
 From the vector triangle, you can see
b
that the vector is b – a. A
 Likewise, the vector is a – b. a
x
O

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 POSITION VECTOR
 Mid-point of a line
◦Let the position vector of a point A to be a
OA = a
Let the position vector of B to be b.
Let M be the mid-point of AB.
Then,
BA = a − b
So, OM = OB + BM O
1
B = OB + BA
2
= b + (a − b )
b 1
M 2
= (a + b )
1
a A 2
M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015
 POSITION VECTOR
 Collinear points
Figure shows three distinct points,

A, B, and C. If A, B, and C lie on a A
straight line, the vectors AB and
BC are parallel. The converse is also B
true. Hence, we have the following
results:
C
 Three distinct points A, B, and C are
collinear 
AB = k BC , where k is a scalar.

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015

 EXERCISE

 If OA = 6a, OB = 3b and OC = 4a + b. Show that

the point A, B and C are collinear.

M. A. Daud | MF012 January 2015