Basic Concepts of Vectors

Definition 1

While studying mathematics and sciences, we come across two types of quantities – scalars

and vectors. The quantity that involves only value or magnitude is a Scalar quantity, like
length, mass, speed, area, etc. On the other hand, the quantity that involves more than one
values is a Vector quantity, like displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, weight,
momentum, etc. In this article, we will look at the vector meaning by understanding the
basic components of a vector

A quantity that has magnitude, as well as direction, is called a vector. From the figure
above, the directed line segment shown in Fig. 1 (iii) is a vector. It is denoted as
‘vector  →ABAB→’ or ‘vector →aa→’. The point A from where the vector →ABAB→ starts
is called its initial point, and the point B where it ends is called its terminal point.

The distance between initial and terminal points of a vector is called the magnitude (or length)
of the vector, denoted as |→ABAB→|, or |→aa→|, or a. The arrow indicates the direction of
the vector.

Note: Length is never negative. Hence, |→aa→| is always ≥ 0.

 Position Vector Meaning

Now, look at the following diagram

Fig. 2 displays a right-handed rectangular coordinate system. Let’s consider a point ‘P’ in

space, with coordinates (x, y, z) with respect to the origin O (0, 0, 0). The position vector of the
point P with respect to the origin O is the vector →OPOP→, where O is the initial point and P
is the terminal point of the vector.
Now, we already know about the distance formula. Applying it to find the magnitude
of →OPOP→ or →rr→, in this case, we get
|→OPOP→| = √ x2+y2+z2 x2+y2+z2
Also, in practice, the position vectors of points A, B, C, etc. with respect to the origin O are
denoted by →aa→, →bb→, →cc→, etc. as shown below.
 Direction Cosines

Next, take a look at the figure below

Fig. 4 shows a position vector →OPOP→ (or →rr→) of a point P (x, y, z). The

vector →rr→ makes angles α, β, and γ with the positive directions of the x, y, and z-axes
respectively. These are called direction angles. Now, the direction cosines of the
vector →rr→ are the cosine values of these angles. They are denoted as:
l = \( \cos{\alpha} \)
m = \( \cos{\beta} \)
n = \( \cos{\gamma} \)
Another thing that you may note from Fig. 4, is that the triangle OAP is a right-angled triangle.
Hence, we have
\( \cos{\alpha} \) = \( \frac{x}{r} \)

where r stands for |→rr→|. Similarly, from the right-angled triangles OBP and OCP, we have

\( \cos{\beta} \) = \( \frac{y}{r} \) and \( \cos{\gamma} \) = \( \frac{z}{r} \)

Therefore, the coordinates of the point P can be expressed as (lr, mr, nr). These numbers, lr, mr
and nr, are proportional to the direction cosines of the vector →rr→. They are called direction
ratios of the →rr→ and are represented as a, b, and c respectively.