SMES1102

Semester 2 2012/2013
Lecture notes 1:Vector
Scalars and Vectors
Scalar: a quantity that has magnitude only.
Scalars may or may not have units associated
with them.

Vector: a quantity that has both magnitude
and direction
Scalars and Vectors
length? force?
temperature?
velocity?
voltage?
mass?
area?
displacement?
Scalar or vector?
Acceleration?
Momentum?
Which of the following are vectors, scalars, or
neither?

a) 5.2 m/s left
b) downwards
c) 0.52 s
d) 15 south of east
Scalars and Vectors
Notation
A different notation is used for a different vector: A,
B, AB,
If the vector is handwritten, the variable symbol is
written with a right-pointing arrow over top: F
Even if the vector itself is pointing left or down or northeast, the arrow on top of the
symbol still points right

If the vector appears in a textbook or other typeset
document, the variable is usually bolded: F
Graphical Representation
A vector is represented by a line segment (with
magnitude) and an assigned direction.





The magnitude or length of the vector is the length
of the segment AB and is denoted by .
Arrow is the direction from A to B
Note |AB| 0 (since lengths always 0)
Graphical Representation
Consider the vectors in the diagram below
Vector B has the same magnitude as A, since it has the same length of 2 units on the grid.
Vector C has the same direction as A but a different magnitude, since it is 4 units long
A =B and A C
WARNING!!! The length of the arrow does not necessarily represent a length.
Similarly, E has the same direction as D but a smaller
magnitude, while F and G are in the opposite direction to D.
In fact, G is said to be the opposite or negative of D, because
it has the same magnitude, but the opposite direction
Two vectors are equal if they have the same
magnitude and direction
A = B
C has same direction as A, B but different magnitude
D has same magnitude as A, B but different direction
A B C
D
a has same magnitude as a, but has opposite direction
So
| a| = |a|
The magnitude of a vector is ALWAYS positive
Geometric Addition of Vectors
- Accomplished by connecting the vectors head to tail in sequence as
follow:
Following the commutative law:
The sum of two or more vectors is called the RESULTANT
This is defined as the method of adding any two vectors. It is called the TRIANGLE LAW
Geometric Subtraction of Vectors
- Accomplished by adding the opposite of the vector to be subtracted
Alternatively we can use the parallelogram law.
+ =
But = so + =
This is called the PARALLELOGRAM LAW
Also note that since

+ = and = and =
We have + =
Hence + = +
so vector addition is commutative
Using the following three vectors, find:
A
B
C
(a) A + B
(b) A - B
(c) A + B + C
(d) A + B - C
Example 1:
Associative Law for vectors is
(F
1
+ F
2
) + F
3
= F
1
+ (F
2
+ F
3
)
Proof for displacements:-
Multiplication of a vector by a scalar
If we have (i) a scalar c > 0 and (ii) a vector A =
1
,
2
, then we
define cA as follows.
cA is a vector.
Its magnitude is A =


Its direction is the same as A.

1
,
2
=
1
2
+
2
2

=
1
2
+
2
2

Similarly, if c < 0,
cA =
1
,
2
is a vector with opposite direction from A and magnitude
A .

1
,
2
=
1
,
2

A = A
Example 2: Sketch u + 2v using vectors u and v in the figure
A (a
1
, a
2
)
a
1
a
2

a
Position vector
For the position vector a with initial point at the origin and terminal point at the point
A (a
1
,a
2
), we denote the vector by
a = =
1
,
2

a
1
and a
2
are the components of vector a
Magnitude of vector a is

=
1
2
+
2
2

(Pythagorean Theorem)
If a vector a is represented in the plan with
initial point A (a1, a2) and terminal point O
(o
1
, o
2
), then a = o
1
a
1
, o
2
a
1

A (a
1
, a
2
)
B (b
1
, b
2
)
C (a
1
+ b
1
, a
2
+ b
2
)
O

1
,
2
+
1
,
2
=
1
+
1
,
2
+
2

1
,
2
-
1
,
2
=
1


1
,
2

2

Vector addition
Vector subtraction
Vector Addition
a + b = a + b (commutativity)
a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c (associativity)
a + 0 = a (zero vector)
a + (-a) = 0 (additive inverse)

Multiplication by a Scalar
c(a + b) = ca + cb (distributive law)
(c + d)a = ca + du (distributive law)
(cd)a = c(da) = d(ca)
1a= a (multiplication by 1)
0a = 0 (multiplication by 0)

Length of a Vector
|ca| = |c| |a|

Properties of Vector
Find the vector with:

(a) initial point at A (2,3) and terminal point at B (3,-1)
Example 3
= 3 2, 1 3 = 1 , 4
(b) initial point at B (3,-1) and terminal point at A (2,3)
= 2 3, 3 1 = 1 , 4
Example 4: Express the vector with initial point P and terminal
point Q in component form
Find a 2b and -3a + 4b for vectors

(i) a = 2, -5 and b = -3, 1
(ii) a = 1, 7 and b = 4, 1
(iii) a = 5, -1 and b = 3, 6
(iv) a = 4, 9 and b = 1, -2
Exercises
Fundamental Cartesian Unit Vectors
Three special vectors play an important role and have a special
notation. They are:-

A unit vector parallel to the X-axis, denoted by i
A unit vector parallel to the Y -axis, denoted by j
A unit vector parallel to the Z-axis, denoted by k
Any vector can be written in terms of i, j and k
Example : A = 2, 3, 4 = 2i + 3j + 4k
2D
u
Since OA is in the X-direction we can
write = p
1
i
Similarly AB = p
2
j
where p
1
, p
2
are scalars.
u = p
1
i + p
2
j
3D
V
= OA + AB + BC = p
1
i + p
2
j + p
3
k
Addition in terms of components

v
1
= a
1
i + b
1
j + c
1
k
v
2
= a
2
i + b
2
j + c
2
k

v
1
+ v
2
= (a
1
+ a
2
)i + (b
1
+ b
2
)j + (c
1
+ c
2
)k
Compute a+b and a-3b

1) a = <2,1,-2> and b = <1,3,0>
2) a = <-1,0,2> and b = <4,3,2>
3) a = 3i j + 4k and b = 5i + j
4) a = i 4 j - 2k and b = i - 3j + 4k
Exercises
Any vector can be broken down into components along the x and y axes.
Example: = 50m @ 30 from the horizontal. Find its components.
= 4.3m i + 2.5m j
Consider the two vectors shown in the figure
below . Find the x and y components of the vectors
A and B
Vector problems
Given three concurrent forces acting on a tent post. Find The magnitude and angle of
the resultant force.
Vector problems
1) A river flows at 3 km/h and a rower rows
at 6 km/h. What direction should the rower
take to go straight across a river?
Vector problems
Products of Vectors
a) Scalar (dot) product the result is a scalar
b) Vector product the result is a vector
A.B =

cos
Scalar product
We define the scalar product (or dot product) of two vectors
A and B as
A
B
A.B = cos
where is the angle between them and , are the
magnitudes.
The dot product or scalar product yields a scalar by
multiplying two vectors. T
Scalar product
(i) If A is perpendicular to B then = 90 and cos = 0,
so A.B = 0.
A
B
(ii) A.B = a
2
since = 0, and cos = 1.
(iii) i.i = j.j = k.k = 1 and i.j = j.k = k.i = 0
Special Cases
the result is alwas scalar!!!!!!
Other Properties
Scalar product
1. For a scalar m
(ma).b = m(a.b) = a.(mb) = mab cos
2. (a.b)c is the product of a scalar a.b with a vector c. Recalling
that mc is a vector in the direction of c with magnitude mc we see
that (a.b)c is a vector in the direction of c with magnitude
. .
3. a.(b + c) = a.b + a.c The distributive law.
Component form of the scalar product
Scalar product