Course : Linear Algebra

Effective Period : February 2016

Vectors

Session 08-09
Vectors
 Acknowledgement

These slides have been adapted from:

Anton, H. and Rorres, C. (2010). Elementary Linear

Algebra : Applications Version. 10th Edition. John
Wiley & Sons. New Jersey.

Chapter 3
 Learning Objectives

LO 4 : Explain vector operations and

their geometric interpretations.

Students will be able to compute various vector

operations.
Students will be able to interpret vector operations
geometrically.
 Contents

Vectors

Vectors in 2-Space and 3-Space

Vector Operations
Vector Projections
Linear Combinations and Linear Independency of
Vectors
Vectors in 2-Space and 3-Space
 Vectors in 2-Space and 3-Space
Engineers and physicists represent vectors in two dimensions (also called
2-space) or in three dimensions (also called 3-space) by arrows. The
direction of the arrowhead specifies the direction of the vector and the
length of the arrow specifies the magnitude. Mathematicians call these
geometric vectors. The tail of the arrow is called the initial point of the
vector and the tip the terminal point.

In this text we will denote vectors in boldface type such as a, b, v, w, and

x, and we will denote scalars in lowercase italic type such as a, k, v, w, and
x. When we want to indicate that a vector v has initial point A and
terminal point B, then we will write :

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 Equivalent Vectors and
Zero Vectors
Vectors with the same length and direction, such as those in figure
below, are said to be equivalent. Since we want a vector to be
determined solely by its length and direction, equivalent vectors
are regarded to be the same vector even though they may be in
different positions. Equivalent vectors are also said to be equal,
which we indicate by writing v = w.

The vector whose initial and terminal points coincide has length
zero, so we call this the zero vector and denote it by 0. The zero
vector has no natural direction, so we will agree that it can be
assigned any direction that is convenient for the problem at hand.
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 Vector Addition
Parallelogram Rule for Vector Addition
If v and w are vectors in 2-space or 3-space that are positioned so
their initial points coincide, then the two vectors form adjacent sides
of a parallelogram, and the sum is the vector represented by the
arrow from the common initial point of and to the opposite vertex of
the parallelogram.

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 Vector Substraction
In ordinary arithmetic we can write a b = a + (-b), which
expresses subtraction in terms of addition. There is an analogous
idea in vector arithmetic :
The negative of a vector v, denoted by -v, is the vector that has
the same length as v but is oppositely directed, and the difference
of v from w, denoted by w v, is taken to be the sum
w v = w + (-v).

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 Scalar Multiplication
If is a nonzero vector in 2-space or 3-space, and if k is a nonzero
scalar, then we define the scalar product of v by k to be the
vector whose length is |k| times the length of v and whose
direction is the same as that of v if k is positive and opposite to
that of v if k is negative. If k=0 or v=0, then we define k.v to be 0.

Figure below shows the geometric relationship between a vector v

and some of its scalar multiples. In particular, observe that (-1).v
has the same length as v but is oppositely directed; therefore,
(-1).v = -v

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 Parallel and Collinear Vectors

Suppose that v and w are vectors in 2-space or 3-space with a common initial
point. If one of the vectors is a scalar multiple of the other, then the vectors
lie on a common line, so it is reasonable to say that they are collinear (see
figure below). However, if we translate one of the vectors, then the vectors are
parallel but no longer collinear. This creates a linguistic problem because
translating a vector does not change it. The only way to resolve this problem
is to agree that the terms parallel and collinear mean the same thing when
applied to vectors. Although the vector 0 has no clearly defined direction, we
will regard it to be parallel to all vectors when convenient.

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 Sum of Three Vectors
Vector addition satisfies the associative law for addition,
meaning that when we add three vectors, say u, v, and w, it does
not matter which two we add first; that is,
u + (v + w) = (u + v) + w
It follows from this that there is no ambiguity in the expression
because the same result is obtained no matter how the vectors are
grouped.

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 Vectors in Coordinate Systems

If a vector v in 2-space or 3-space is positioned with its initial point

at the origin of a rectangular coordinate system, then the vector is
completely determined by the coordinates of its terminal point.
We call these coordinates the components of v relative to the
coordinate system. We will write v = (v1 ,v2) to denote a vector v in
2-space with components (v1, v2), and v = (v1, v2, v3) to denote a
vector in 3-space with components (v1, v2, v3).

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 Vectors Whose Initial Points Is
Not at the Origin
If P1 P2 denotes the vector in 2-space with initial point P1(x1,y1)
and terminal point P2(x2,y2), then the components of this vector
are given by the formula

Moreover, the components of a vector in

3-space that has initial point P1(x1,y1,z1)
and terminal point P2(x2,y2,z2) are given by

Example :

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Vector Operations
 Vectors in n-Space
Definition
If n is a positive integer, then an ordered n-tuple is a sequence of n
real numbers (v1,v2,...,vn). The set of all ordered n-tuples is called n-
space and is denoted by Rn.

We will denote a vector v in Rn using the notation v = (v1,v2,...,vn) and

we will call 0 = (0,0,...,0) the zero vector.

Definition
Vectors v = (v1,v2,...,vn) and w = (w1,w2,...,wn) in Rn are said to be
equivalent (also called equal) if
v1 = w1, v2 = w2, ..., vn = wn.
We indicate this by writing v = w.

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 Vector Addition and
Scalar Multiplication
Definition
If v = (v1,v2,...,vn) and w = (w1,w2,...,wn) are vectors in Rn, and if k
is any scalar, then we define these operations :
v + w = (v1+w1, v2+w2, ..., vn+wn)
k.v = (k.v1, k.v2, ..., k.vn)
-v = (-v1, -v2, ..., -vn)
w v = (w1-v1, w2-v2, ..., wn-vn)

Example
If v = (1,-3,2) and w = (4,2,1), then
v + w = (5,-1,3), 2v = (2,-6,4),
-w = (-4,-2,-1), v - w = (-3,-5,1).

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 Illustration in 2-Space
Geometric interpretations of vector addition and scalar multiplication
in 2-Space (R2) are shown in figure below :

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 Properties of Vector Addition
and Scalar Multiplication
Theorem

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 Properties of Vector Addition
and Scalar Multiplication
Theorem

Above theorem can be proved easily using some parts of the

previous theorem. Be aware to distinguish 0 (scalar) and 0 (zero
vector).

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 Norm of a Vector
We will denote the length of a vector v by the symbol ||v||, which is
read as the norm of v, the length of v, or the magnitude of v (the
term norm being a common mathematical synonym for length).
In general n-Space, the norm of a vector is defined by extending
the Theorem of Pythagoras.
Definition

Example
Norm of the vector v = (-3,2,1) in R3 is

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 Illustration
These figures illustrate why the Theorem of Pythagoras and its
extension are suitable to define norm of a vector in R2 and R3.

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 Properties of Norm
There are familiar facts about vectors :
Distances are nonnegative.
The zero vector is the only vector of length zero.
Multiplying a vector by a scalar multiplies its length by the
absolute value of that scalar.
Therefore, we can generalize those facts in this theorem.

Theorem

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 Unit Vectors and
Standard Unit Vectors
A vector of norm 1 is called a unit vector. When a rectangular
coordinate system is introduced in R2 or R3, the unit vectors in the
positive directions of the coordinate axes are called the standard
unit vectors. In R2 these vectors are denoted by
i = (1,0) and j = (0,1)
and in R3 by
i = (1,0,0), j = (0,1,0) and k = (0,0,1)

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 Distance between Two Points
Definition
If P1 and P2 are points in R2 or R3, then the length of the vector PP
1 2

is equal to the distance d between the two points. Specifically, if

P1(x1,y1) and P2(x2,y2) are points in R2, then

This is the familiar distance formula from analytic geometry.

Similarly, the distance between the points P1(x1,y1,z1) and
P2(x2,y2,z2) in 3-space is

Those formulas can also be generalized in Rn, for any natural

number n.

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 Illustration and Example

Example

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 Dot Product
Definition

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 Dot Product (Cont.)
For computational purposes it is desirable to have a formula that
expresses the dot product of two vectors in terms of components.
Definition
If u = (u1,u2) and v = (v1,v2) are vectors in R2, then :
u.v = u1.v1 + u2.v2
If u = (u1,u2,u3) and v = (v1,v2,v3) are vectors in R3, then :
u.v = u1.v1 + u2.v2 + u3.v3
In general, if u = (u1,u2,...,un) and v = (v1,v2,...,vn) are vectors in Rn,
then the dot product (also called the Euclidean inner product) of
u and v is denoted by u.v and is defined by
u.v = u1.v1 + u2.v2 + ... + un.vn
Example
Given two vectors in R4 : u = (-1,3,5,7) and v = (-3,-4,1,0), then
u.v = (-1).(-3) + 3.(-4) + (5).(1) + (7).(0) = -4.
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 Angles between Two Vectors
Note that the angle between u and v is defined as the smallest
angle, that is 0 .

From the formula , and since 0 , it follows

from properties of cosine function studied in trigonometry that:
is acute if u.v > 0
is obtuse if u.v < 0
= /2 acute if u.v = 0
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 Orthogonal Vectors
Recall from the previous slide that if is the angle between two
nonzero vectors u and v in Rn, then = /2 = 900 if and only if u.v = 0.
Thus, we make the following definition about orthogonality.

Definition
Two nonzero vectors u and v in Rn are said to be orthogonal (or
perpendicular) if u.v = 0. We will also agree that the zero vector in Rn
is orthogonal to every vector in Rn.
A nonempty set of vectors in Rn is called an orthogonal set if all pairs
of distinct vectors in the set are orthogonal. An orthogonal set of unit
vectors is called an orthonormal set.

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 Example
Find the angle between a diagonal of a cube and one of its edges.
Solution Let k be the length of an edge and introduce a
coordinate system as shown in figure below. If we let u1=(k,0,0),
u2=(0,k,0) and u3=(0,0,k), then the vector d=(k,k,k)=u1+u2+u3 is a
diagonal of the cube. It follows from first definition of dot product
that the angle between d and the edge u1 satisfies

With the help of a calculator we obtain .

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 Algebraic Properties of
the Dot Product
Note that in special case u = v we have .
Theorem

Theorem

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 Cross Product
We have defined the dot product of two vectors u and v in n-
space. That operation produced a scalar as its result. We will now
define a type of vector multiplication that produces a vector as the
result but which is applicable only to vectors in 3-space.

Definition

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 Cross Product (Cont.)
It is also worth (and it will be easier to remember) noting that a
cross product can be represented in the determinant form :

where i, j and k are the standard unit vectors in R3.

Example
Find u x v, where u = (1,2,-2) and v = (3,0,1).

or equivalently

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 Relationships Involving Cross Product
and Dot Product
Theorem

Note that part (a) and (b) of the theorem mean that u x v is
orthogonal (or perpendicular) to both u and v.
Example
In previous example, u = (1,2,-2), v = (3,0,1) and we obtain
u x v = (2,-7,-6). Since u.(u x v) = (1)(2) + (2)(-7) + (-2)(-6) = 0 and
v.(u x v) = (3)(2) + (0)(-7) + (1)(-6) = 0, u x v is orthogonal to both
u and v, as guaranteed by above theorem.

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 Properties of Cross Product
Theorem

Also note that the cross product is not associative, i.e.

(u x v) x w u x (v x w).
Therefore we cannot well-define the form u x v x w and need to
make sure which operation should be done first.
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 Geometric Interpretation
of Cross Product
We have known that u x v is orthogonal to both u and v. If u and
v are nonzero vectors, it can be shown that the direction of u x v
can be determined using the following right-hand rule:
Let be the angle between u and v, and suppose u is rotated
through the angle until it coincides with v. If the fingers of the
right hand are cupped so that they point in the direction of
rotation, then the thumb indicates (roughly) the direction of u x v.
Also, from Lagranges identity, we can obtain that

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Vector Projections
 Orthogonal Projection
In many applications it is necessary to decompose a vector u into a
sum of two terms, one term being a scalar multiple of a specified
nonzero vector a and the other term being orthogonal to a. For
example, if u and a are vectors in R2 that are positioned so their initial
points coincide at a point Q, then we can create such a decomposition
as follows.
Drop a perpendicular from the tip of u to the line through a.
Construct the vector w1 from Q to the foot of the perpendicular.
Construct the vector w2 = u - w1.

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 Projection Theorem
Since w1 + w2 = w1 + (u w1) = u, we have decomposed u into a sum
of two orthogonal vectors, the first term being a scalar multiple of a
and the second being orthogonal to a.
Theorem
If u and a are vectors in Rn and if a 0, then u can be expressed in
exactly one way in the form u = w1 + w2, where w1 is a scalar multiple
of a and w2 is orthogonal to a.
The vector w1 is called the orthogonal projection of u on a or
sometimes the vector component of u along a, and the vector w2 is
called the vector component of u orthogonal to a. Their formula are :

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 Example

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Linear Combinations and Linear
Independency of Vectors
 Linear Combinations of Vectors

Addition, subtraction, and scalar multiplication are frequently

used in combination to form new vectors. For example, if v1, v2,
and v3 are vectors in Rn, then the vectors
u = 2v1 + 3v2 + v3 and w = 7v1 6v2 + 8v3
are formed in this way. In general, we make the following
definition.

Definition
If w is a vector in Rn, then w is said to be a linear combination
of the vectors v1, v2, ..., vr in Rn if it can be expressed in the form
w = k1v1 + k2v2 + ... + krvr
where k1, k2, ..., kr are scalars. These scalars are called the
coefficients of the linear combination.

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 Linear Independence and Dependence

Definition

In other words, a set of vectors S is a linearly independent if and

only if linear combination of vectors in S is equal to zero vector
implies all of the coefficients are zero.

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 Example

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 Example (Cont.)

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 References

Anton, H. and Rorres, C. (2010). Elementary Linear

Algebra : Applications Version. 10th Edition. John Wiley &
Sons. New Jersey.