Hand-out:

Elektromagnetika 1
(Vector Algebra)

Prodi D-III Teknik Telekomunikasi

2021
 CONTENTS

Vector Algebra
Scalars and Vectors
Unit Vector
Vector Addition and Subtraction
Position and Distance Vectors
Vector Multiplication
Components of a Vector
 VECTOR ALGEBRA

SCALARS AND VECTORS

A scalar is a quantity that has only magnitude.
o Quantities such as time, mass, distance, temperature, electric
potential, and population are scalars.
A vector is a quantity that has both magnitude and direction.
o Vector quantities include velocity, force, displacement, and electric
field intensity.
o To distinguish between a scalar and a vector it is customary to
represent a vector by a letter with an arrow on top of it, or by a
letter in boldface type . A scalar is represented simply by a letter.
UNIT VECTOR
A unit vector aA along A is defined as a vector whose magnitude is
unity (i.e., 1) and its direction is along A, that is,

Note that |aA| = 1. Thus we may write A as

A = A aA
which completely specifies A in terms of its magnitude A and its
direction aA.
A vector A in Cartesian (or rectangular) coordinates may be repre-
sented as
(a) Unit vectors ax, ay, and az (b) components of A along ax, ay, and az

Where :
Ax, Ay and Az are called the components of A in the x, y, and z
directions respectively;
ax, ay, and az are unit vectors in the x, y, and z directions,
respectively.
 The magnitude of vector A is given by

and the unit vector along A is given by

VECTOR ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION

Two vectors A and B can be added together to give another vector C;
that is,
C=A+B
The vector addition is carried out component by component. Thus, if
A = (Ax, Ay, Az) and B = (Bx, By, Bz).
C = (Ax + Bx) ax + (Ay + By) ay + (Az + Bz) az
Vector subtraction is similarly carried out as
D = A − B = A + (−B)
= (Ax − Bx) ax + (Ay − By) ay + (Az − Bz) az

Vector addition C = A + B : (a) parallelogram rule, (b) head-to-tail rule.

Vector subtraction D = A − B : (a) parallelogram rule, (b) head-to-tail rule.

 The three basic laws of algebra obeyed by any given vectors A, B,
and C, are summarized

where k and ℓ are scalars.

POSITION AND DISTANCE VECTORS

A point P in Cartesian coordinates may be represented by (x, y, z).
The position vector rP,. (or radius vector) of point P is as the directed
distance from the origin O to P; i.e.,
 Illustration of position vector rP = 3ax + 4ay + 5az

The position vector of point P is useful in defining its position in

space. Point (3, 4, 5), for example, and its position vector 3ax + 4ay +
5az are shown in the Figure above.
The distance vector is the displacement from one point to another.

Distance vector rPQ

If two points P and Q are given by (xP , yP , zP) and (xQ , yQ , zQ), the
distance vector (or separation vector) is the displacement from P to Q
as shown in the figure above; that is,
rPQ = rQ − rP
= (xQ − xP) ax + (yQ − yP) ay + (zQ − zP) az
A vector field is said to be constant or uniform if it does not depend
on space variables x, y, and z. For example, vector B = 3ax − 2ay +
10az is a uniform vector while vector A = 2xy ax + y2 ay − xz2 az is
not uniform because B is the same everywhere whereas A varies
from point to point.
EXAMPLE 1

If A = 10ax − 4ay + 6az and B = 2ax + ay , find: (a) the component of

A along ay , (b) the magnitude of 3A − B, (c) a unit vector along A +
2B.

Solution:
(a) The component of A along ay is Ay = −4.
(b) 3A − B = 3(10, −4, 6) − (2, 1, 0)
= (30, −12, 18) − (2, 1, 0)
= (28, −13, 18)
Hence
 (c) Let C = A + 2B = (10, −4, 6) + (4, 2, 0) = (14, −2, 6)
A unit vector along C is

or

Note that | ac | = 1 as expected.

PRACTICE EXERCISE 1
Given vectors A = ax + 3az and B = 5ax + 2ay − 6az , determine
(a) A + B 
(b) 5A − B
(c) The component of A along ay
(d) A unit vector parallel to 3A + B

Answer: (a) 7, (b) (0, −2, 21), (c) 0, (d) ± (0,9117; 0,2279; 0,3419).
EXAMPLE 2

Points P and Q are located at (0, 2, 4) and (−3, 1, 5). Calculate

(a) The position vector P
(b) The distance vector from P to Q
(c) The distance between P and Q
(d) A vector parallel to PQ with magntude of 10

Solution:
(a) rPQ = 0ax + 2ay + 4az = 2ay + 4az
(b) rPQ = rQ − rP = (−3, 1, 5) − (0, 2, 4) = (−3, −1, 1)
or rPQ = −3ax − ay + az
(c) Since rPQ is the distance vector from P to Q, the distance
between P and Q is the magnitude of this vector; that is,
 Alternatively:

(d) Let the required vector be A, then

where A = 10 is the magnitude of A. Since A is parallel to PQ, it

must have the same unit vector as rPQ or rQP . Hence,

and
PRACTICE EXERCISE 2

Given points P(l, −3, 5), Q(2, 4, 6), and R(0, 3, 8), find:
(a) the position vectors of P and R,
(b) the distance vector rQR,
(c) the distance between Q and R,
Answer: (a) ax − 3 ay + 5 az ; 3ax + 3 ay , (b) −2ax − ay

EXAMPLE 3

A river flows southeast at 10 km/hr and a boat flows upon it with its
bow pointed in the direction of travel. A man walks upon the deck at
2 km/hr in a direction to the right and per pendicular to the direction
of the boat's movement. Find the velocity of the man with respect to
the earth.
Solution:
Consider the Figure below as illustrating the problem. The velocity of
the boat is
The velocity of the man with
respect to the boat (relative
velocity) is

Thus the absolute

velocity of the man is

that is, 10.2 km/hr

at 56.3° south of east.
PRACTICE EXERCISE 3

An airplane has a ground speed of 350 km/hr in the direction due

west. If there is a wind blowing northwest at 40 km/hr, calculate the
true air speed and heading of the airplane.
Answer: 379,3 km/hr; 4,275° north of west.

VECTOR MULTIPLICATION

When two vectors A and B are multiplied, the result is either a scalar
or a vector depending on how they are multiplied. Thus there are two
types of vector multiplication:
1. Scalar (or dot) product: A • B
2. Vector (or cross) product: A × B
Multiplication of three vectors A, B, and C can result in either:
3. Scalar triple product: A • (B × C)
4. Vector triple product: A × (B × C)
Dot Product
The dot product of two vectors A and B, wrilten as A • B. is defined
geometrically as the product of the magnitudes of A and B and the
cosine of the angle between them. Thus:

where θAB is the smaller angle between A and B. The result of A • B

is called either the scalar product because it is scalar, or the dot
product due to the dot sign. If A = (Ax, Ay, Az) and B = (Bx, By, Bz),
then

which is obtained by multiplying A and B component by component.

Two vectors A and B are said to be orthogonal (or perpendicular)
with each other if A • B = 0
Note that dot product obeys the following:
(a) Commutative law:

(b) Distributive law:

(c) Also note that

It is easy to prove the identities in eqs. Above.

Cross Product
The cross product of two vectors A and B. written as A × B is a
vector quantity whose magnitude is the area of the parallelopiped
formed by A and B It (see Figure below) and is in the direction of
advance of a right-handed screw as A is turned into B. Thus
Where an is a unit vector normal to the plane containing A and B.
The direction of an is taken as the direction of the right thumb when
the fingers of the right hand rotate from A to B as shown in the
Figure (a). Alternatively, the direction of an is taken as that of the
advance of a right-handed screw as A is turned into B as shown in
the Figure (b).

(a) right-hand rule (b) right-handed screw rule.

Note that the cross product has the following basic properties:
(a) It is not commutative:
It is anticommutative:
(b) It is not associative:
(c) It is distributive:
(d) Also note that:

Cross product using cyclic

permutation:

Moving clockwise leads Moving counterclockwise

to positive results leads to negative results.
Scalar Triple Product
Given three vectors A, B, and C, we define the scalar triple product
as

obtained in cyclic permutation. If A = (Ax, Ay, Az), B = (Bx, By, Bz),

and C = (Cx, Cy, Cz), then A • (B × C) is the volume of a paral-
lelopiped having A, B, and C as edges and is easily obtained by
finding the determinant of the 3 × 3 matrix formed by A, B, and C;
that is,

Since the result of this vector multiplication is scalar, eq. above is

called the scalar triple product.
Vector Triple Product
For vectors A, B, and C, we define the vector tiple product as

obtained using the "bac-cab" rule. It should be noted that

but

COMPONENTS OF A VECTOR
A direct application of vector product is its use in determining the
projection (or component) of a vector in a given direction. The
projection can be scalar or vector.
Given a vector A, we define the scalar component AB of A along
vector B as
or

The vector component AB of A along B is simply the scalar compo-

nent in eq. above multiplied by a unit vector along B; that is,

Both the scalar and vector components of A are illustrated in the

figure below.

(a) scalar component AB (b) Vector component AB

Notice from Figure (b) that the vector can be resolved into two
orthogonal components: one component AB parallel to B, another (A
− AB) perpendicular to B.
 We have considered addition, subtraction, and multiplication of
vectors. However, division of vectors A/B has not been considered
because it is undefined except when A and B are parallel so that A =
k B, where k is a constant .

EXAMPLE 4
Given vectors A = 3ax + 4ay + az and B = 2ay − 5az, find the angle
between A and B.
Solution:
The angle θAB can be found
by using either dot product
or cross product.
 Alternatively:

PRACTICE EXERCISE 4
If A = ax + 3az and B = 5ax + 2ay − 6 az , find θAB .
Answer: 120,6°.
EXAMPLE 5
Three field quantities are given by

Determine
Solution:
Alternatively:

To find the determinant of a 3 × 3 matrix, we repeat the first two

rows and cross multiply;
when the cross multiplication is from right to left, the result should be
negated as shown below.
This technique of finding a determinant applies only to a 3 × 3
matrix. Hence

as obtained before.
(c)

Or from eq. scalar triple product

Alternatively, using the bac-cab rule,

PRACTICE EXERCISE 5
Let E = 3ay + 4az , and F = 4ax − 10ay + 5az
(a) Find the component of E along F.
(b) Determine a unit vector perpendicular to both E and F.

Answer: (a) (−0.2837, 0.7092, −0.3546), (b) ± (0.9398, 0.2734, −0.205).

EXAMPLE 6
Derive the cosine formula :

and the sine formula :

using dot product and cross product, respectively.

Solution:
Consider a triangle as shown in the figure below. From the figure, we
notice that

that is,

Hence,

where A is the angle between b and c. The area of a triangle is half of

the product of its height and base. Hence,

Dividing through by abc gives :

PRACTICE EXERCISE 6
Show that vectors a = (4, 0, −1), b = (1,3, 4), and c = (− 5, − 3, − 3) form
the sides of a triangle. Is this a right angle triangle? Calculate the area of
the triangle.
Answer : Yes, 10,5

EXAMPLE 7
Show that points P1 (5, 2, −4),
− P2 (1, 1, 2), and P3 (−3,
− 0, 8) all lie on a
straight line. Determine the shortest distance between the line and point
P4 (3, −1, 0).
Solution:
The distance vector is given by
Similarly,

showing that the angle between and is zero (sin θ = 0). This
implies that P1 , P2 , and P3 lie on a straight line.
Alternatively, the vector equation of the straight line is easily determined
from Figure (a). For any point P on the line joining P1 and P2

where λ is a constant. Hence the position vector rP of the point P must

satisfy
that is,

This is the vector equation of the straight line joining P1 and P2. If P3 is
on this line, the position vector of P3 must satisfy the equation; r3 does
satisfy the equation when λ = 2.

The shortest distance between the line and point P4 (3, −1, 0) is the per-
pendicular distance from the point to the line. From Figure (b), it is clear
that
The shortest distance between the line and point P4 (3, −1, 0) is the per-
pendicular distance from the point to the line. From Figure (b), it is clear
that

Any point on the line may be used as a reference point. Thus, instead of
using P1 as a reference point, we could use P3 so that
PRACTICE EXERCISE 7
If P1 is (1,2, −3) and P2 is (−4, 0,5), find
(a) The distance P1 P2
(b) The vector equation of the line P1 P2
(c) The shortest distance between the line P1 P2 and point P3 (7, − 1,2)

Answer: (a) 9,644; (b) (1 − 5λ) ax + 2(1 − λ) ay + (8λ − 3) az ; (c) 8,2.

 REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Identify which of the following quantities is not a vector:

(a) force (d) work,
(b) Momentum (e) weight.
(c) acceleration

2. Which of the following is not a scalar field?

(a) Displacement of a mosquito in space
(b) Light intensity in a drawing room
(c) Temperature distribution in your classroom
(d) Atmospheric pressure in a given region
(e) Humidity of a city

3. The rectangular coordinate systems shown in the figure below are

right-handed except:
4. Which of these is correct?
5. Which of the following identities is not valid?

6. Which of the following statements are meaningless?

7. Let F = 2ax − 6ay + 10az and G = ax + Gyay + 5az . If F and G

have the same unit vector, Gy is
(a) −6 (d) 0
(b) −3 (e) 6
(c) −2
8. Given that A = ax + α ay + az and B = α ax + ay + az , if A and B
are normal to each other, α is
(a) −2 (d) 1
(b) −1/2 (e) 2
(c) 0

9. The component of 6ax + 2ay − 3az along 3ax − 4ay is

10. Given A = −6ax + 3ay + 2 az , the projection of A along ay is

(a) −12 (d) 7
(b) − 4 (e) 12
(c) 3