Preprint typeset in JHEP style - HYPER VERSION

SINGLE MATHEMATICS B : Vectors

Summary Notes

Ruth Gregory

Abstract: These notes sum up “all you need to know” about the mathematics of
vectors at this stage.
Contents

1. Vectors 1
1.1 Vectors and Scalars 1
1.2 Bases in R3 2

2. Products of vectors 3
2.1 The scalar product 3
2.2 The vector product 3
2.3 Triple products 4

3. Lines and Planes 4

3.1 Lines in R3 4
3.2 Planes in R3 4

4. Polar co-ordinates 5
4.1 Plane and cylindrical polars 5
4.2 Spherical polars 6

1. Vectors

1.1 Vectors and Scalars

A vector is something which has both a magnitude and direction, as distinct from a
scalar which is just a number. Vectors are assigned at a point, and can be visualised
as arrows with a given length based at that point. They can (at least in a flat space!)
also be thought of as displacing you from one point to another. (See figure 1.)
Vectors are usually thought of as objects in R3 , i.e. three-dimensional space. This
is certainly true for most simple applications, but much of physics has more ab-
stract or complicated vectors – for example, relativity is much easier if you view it
four dimensionally, and quantum mechanics actually has infinite dimensional Hilbert
spaces.
Vectors can be added, and multiplied by a scalar (see figure 2). These properties
are what defines a vector in abstract.

–1–
 BC C
A AB B
b−a c−b
c
a b

O
Figure 1: An illustration of vectors both as arrows with length and direction, as well as
displacements: a is the vector from O to A. The displacements from A to B and B to C
~ = b − a.
are also vectors: e.g. AB

λc
b
a+b

a c

Figure 2: Adding of vectors: to add a and b together, first displace along the vector a,
then along the vector b (where you imagine sliding b so that the base of the arrow starts
at the arrowhead of a) and shows that addition is commutative. Multiplication by a scalar:
the vector c does not change its direction, but simply has its length scaled by λ.

1.2 Bases in R3

• The set {e1 , e2 , e3 } is a basis for R3 if any vector v in R3 can be written uniquely
as
v = v1 e1 + v2 e2 + v3 e3 .

The numbers vi are the components of the vector v with respect to the basis {ei }.
The standard basis in R3 is based on the cartesian coordinates {x, y, z}, and is
given by the unit vectors in the x, y and z directions. It is denoted by {i, j, k} or
{ex , ey , ez }. This gives us three different ways of writing v: as an abstract geometric
object, a sum of components and basis vectors, or as an ordered triplet of numbers

–2–
(can be a column or a row)

v1
 

v = v1 i + v2 j + v3 k = v2  (1.1)
v3

Addition and multiplication by a scalar are particularly simple in terms of com-

ponents:
     
v1 w1 v1 + w1
• addition: v + w = v2  + w2  = v2 + w2  ;
v3 w3 v3 + w3
   
v1 λv1
• scalar multiplication: λv = λ v2 = λv2  .
  
v3 λv3

2. Products of vectors
2.1 The scalar product
The scalar or dot product is defined as:

u1 v1
   

u · v = u2 · v2  = u1 v1 + u2 v2 + u3 v3 = uv cos θ,
  
u3 v3

where u and v are the lengths of u and v, and θ is the angle between u and v.
√
Clearly then, the length of v, v or |v|, is |v| = v · v.
• The vectors v and w are said to be orthogonal if the angle between them is
π/2.
• The non-trivial vectors v and w are orthogonal if and only if v · w = 0.

2.2 The vector product

The vector product or cross product of two vectors is another vector:

u1 v1 u2 v3 − u3 v2
     

u × v = u2  × v2  = u3 v1 − u1 v3  .

u3 v3 u1 v2 − u2 v1

• Properties of vector product: w × v = −v × w; v · (v × w) = w · (v × w) = 0.

• u × v = |u||v| sin θ n̂, where n̂ is the unique unit vector normal to both u and
v, where {u, v, n̂} form a right handed triplet.

–3–
2.3 Triple products
The scalar triple product of three vectors a, b and c in R3 is:

[a, b, c] = a · (b × c).

• [a, b, c] = [b, c, a] = [c, a, b].

• For any a, b, c in R3 , [a, b, c] is the determinant of the matrix whose columns
are a, b and c.
• The volume V of a parallelepiped P formed by a, b, and c is
 
V = a · (b × c) = [a, b, c].

Similarly, the volume of a tetrahedron T is [a, b, c]/6.

The Vector triple product: a × (b × c) = (a · c)b − (a · b)c.

3. Lines and Planes

3.1 Lines in R3
A line is defined by a point on it, and a
direction along it:
λ
a1 d1
   

r = a + λd = a2  + λ d2  . (3.1) d

a3 d3
a
Where a is any point on the line, d is a vector
along the line, λ is a parameter running
along the line. This is called the parametric
form of a line (see figure 3).

3.2 Planes in R3
Figure 3: The line as a displacement
A plane in R3 is characterised by a point in point plus direction vector.
it, and either two directions within it, or,
equivalently, a normal to the plane. Since the plane is a flat two dimensional surface
in a three dimensional space, it can also be characterised by a linear constraint.
These give the two main equations for a plane:
• Constraint equation
ax + by + cz = l
for fixed real numbers a, b, c, l.

–4–
 • Using normal vector:
 
x
n · r = n · y = n · a

z
 
l/a
where n is a normal vector and a is a fixed point in the plane, such as  0 .
0

4. Polar co-ordinates
4.1 Plane and cylindrical polars
If P is a point in the plane (x, y) then it is often useful to set

x = r cos θ y = r sin θ,

see figure 4. We can then set up a new vector basis based on these polar coordinates:
{er , eθ } (see figure 4).

eθ
er

(x,y)
r

θ
x

Figure 4: Plane polar coordinates and their associated orthonormal basis.

er = cos θi + sin θj ; eθ = − sin θi + cos θj.

Since i and j are fixed, the only variable in these equations is θ, so differentiating
gives
ėr = θ̇eθ ; ėθ = −θ̇er .

–5–
Hence

ṙ = ṙer + r θ̇eθ
r̈ = (r̈ − r θ̇2 )er + (r θ̈ + 2ṙθ̇)eθ

These coordinate generalize to a cylindrical system by adding in the z-direction,

and the basis vector ez = k.
It seems a bit strange at first to set up a basis at individual points in the plane,
but actually this mirrors the definition of vectors in general spaces. In many physical
problems you want to know the value of a vector field at various points in space -
what is more natural then than to express that vector in terms of some basis at that
point? Many physical problems also have rotational symmetry, and it can be easier
to express vectors in this new basis. Radial and axial vectors have a very simple
form, see figure 5.

Figure 5: An example of an axial and radial vector field. On the right, a line charge
produces a radial electric field E ∝ er . On the left, a current in a wire produces an axial
magnetic field B ∝ eθ .

4.2 Spherical polars

Spherical polars are coordinates adapted to spherical symmetry in R3 . They are
defined via;
   
x r sin θ cos φ
r = y  =  r sin θ sin φ  .
z r cos θ
Once again, r is the distance from the origin, φ is the angle in the {x, y} plane, and
θ is the angle r makes to the z-axis.

–6–
 We can form a spherical orthonormal basis:

er = sin θ cos φi + sin θ sin φj + cos θk

eθ = cos θ cos φi + cos θ sin φj − sin θk
eφ = − sin φi + cos φj.

As before, i, j and k are fixed, so only θ and φ can vary. Differentiating gives

ėr = θ̇eθ + φ̇ sin θeφ

ėθ = −θ̇er + φ̇ cos θeφ
ėφ = −φ̇(sin θer + cos θeθ ),

and for a particle moving along a path r(t), we have:

ṙ = ṙer + r θ̇eθ + r φ̇ sin θeφ

r̈ = (r̈ − r θ̇2 − r sin2 θφ̇2 )er + (r θ̈ + 2ṙ θ̇ − r φ̇2 sin θ cos θ)eθ + (r sin θφ̈ + 2ṙφ̇ sin θ + 2r θ̇φ̇ cos θ)eφ .

–7–