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Vector Problems

The document contains 4 vector problems and their solutions: 1) Finding the heading a rower must take to row straight across a river moving at different speeds. 2) Finding the unit vector in the direction of the vector <2,3>. 3) Using vectors to prove that the diagonals of a parallelogram bisect each other. 4) Proving using vector methods that the midpoints of the sides of a quadrilateral form a parallelogram.

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43 views

Vector Problems

The document contains 4 vector problems and their solutions: 1) Finding the heading a rower must take to row straight across a river moving at different speeds. 2) Finding the unit vector in the direction of the vector <2,3>. 3) Using vectors to prove that the diagonals of a parallelogram bisect each other. 4) Proving using vector methods that the midpoints of the sides of a quadrilateral form a parallelogram.

Uploaded by

sohamdey
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© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Vector problems

1. a) A river ows at 3 mph and a rower rows at 6 mph. What heading should the rower
take to go straight across a river?
b) Answer the same question if the river ows at 6 mph and the rower rows at 3 mph.
Answer:

boat = 6
river = 3
net velocity

a) Let be the angle the rower heads upstream from straight across the river.
The net velocity is the sum of the river and the rowers velocities. If the net velocity is
straight across then the triangle shown is a right triangle which implies
3
sin() = =30

=/6
6
Answer: Head at angle of 30

(/6 radians) upstream from straight across.


b) In this case we need

sin() =
6
. Since this is impossible (sin()
3
1) we conclude no
heading will work.
This makes sense because the river ows faster than the rower rows, so the boat will be
pushed downstream no matter what the heading.
2. Find a unit vector in the direction of 2,3.
Answer: To get a unit vector we scale the original vector by one over its length.
2,3 2 3
u=

=
13
,
13

13
is a unit vector parallel to the original

vector.
3. Use vectors to prove that the diagonals of a parallelogram bisect each other.
Answer:
A B
C D

Weneedtoshowthatthetwodiagonalsintersectattheirmutualmidpoints. Saiddierently
we need to show that the midpoints of AC and BD are, in fact, the same point.
Let M
1
be the midpoint of AC and M
2
be the midpoint of BD. Rephrasing our goal yet
again, we will show M
1
=M
2
by showing

AM

1
=AM

2
.
Now, using vectors we have
1
AM
1
= A

C
2
We need to use the fact that ABCD is a parallelogram. From this we get
1 1
AB

DC
1 1

AB

=

AB

+ AB

= AB

+

DC

2 2 2 2
We use this to write AM

2
in terms of A,B,C,D.

AM

2
=

AB
1 1 1 1 1 1
+ BD

AB

DC

BD

= (

AB

BD

+DC

) = A

C
2 2 2 2 2 2
We have shown

AM

1
=AM

2
, so we are done.
4. Prove using vector methods that the midpoints of the sides of a space quadrilateral
form a parallelogram
Answer: Let A, B, C, D be the four sides; then if the vectors are oriented as shown in
the gure below we have A+B=C+D.
1 1
The vector from the midpoint of A to the midpoint of C is C A; similarly the vector
2 2
1 1
joining the midpoints of the other two sides is B D. Then
2 2
1 1
A+B=C+D CA=BD (CA) = (B .
2
D)
2
Thus two opposite sides are equal and parallel, which shows the gure is a parallelogram.
A
B
D
C
Some note about nding these proofs:
1. You need to use the hypotheses. For example, in this problem a key step made use of
the fact that ABCD is a parallelogram.
2. You should not expect to see the proofs immediately. Rather you will generally need to
play around with the gure.
3. After arriving at a proof you should see if you can clean it up or simplify it.
MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu
18.02SC Multivariable Calculus
Fall 2010
For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms.

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