University of Johannesburg

Faculty of Science
Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics
Lecturers: PG Dlamini, E Morapeli, SM Simelane & S Singh

Vectors

1. Introduction

“Vectors are an important part of the language of science,mathematics, and engineering. They are used to discuss
multi-variable calculus, electrical circuits with oscillating currents, stress and strain in structures and materials, and
flows of atmospheres and fluids, and they have many other applications. Resolving a vector into components is a pre-
cursor to computing things with or about a vector quantity. Because position, velocity, acceleration, force,momentum,
and angular momentum are all vector quantities, resolving vectors into components is a most important skill required
in any engineering studies.” Bird, J., 2017. Higher engineering mathematics. Routledge.

2. Outcomes

At the end of this section, you should be able to:

1. distinguish between scalars and vectors
2. recognize how vectors are represented
3. resolve vectors into their horizontal and vertical components
4. add and subtract vectors
5. understand i , j , k notation

3. Scalars and Vectors

The time taken to fill a water tank may be measured as, say, 30s. Similarly, the temperature in a room may be
measured as, say, 250C, or the mass of a bearing may be measured as, say, 4kg. Quantities such as time, temperature
and mass are entirely defined by a numerical value and are called scalars or scalar quantities.
Not all quantities are like this. Some are defined by more than just size; some also have direction. For example,
the velocity of a car is 100km/h due west, or a force of 30N acts vertically downwards, or an acceleration of 15m/s2
acts at 60o to the horizontal. Quantities such as velocity, force and acceleration, which have both a magnitude and
a direction, are called vectors.
Definition 1. A vector is any directed line segment.
−−→
If a vector starts at a point A and ends at a point B, we often denote it by AB (with the arrow denoting its direction).
The point A is called the initial point of the vector and B is called the terminal point.
We also use the following notations to denote vectors:

u, ū, or simply u

Since a vector is a line segment, it has a length, which we call its norm. If u is a vector, its norm will be defined by

kuk

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Definition 2. A position vector is any vector whose initial point is the origin.
Position vectors in R2 and R3 are vectors whose terminal points are (x, y) and (x, y, z), respectively.

Note: Position vectors are completely determined by their terminal points. Hence, we will simply denote them by
their terminal points. That is, we will write (x, y) and (x, y, z) for position vectors in R2 and R3 , respectively.

Definition 3. If n is a positive integer, then the ordered n−tuple is a sequence of n numbers (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ). The set
of all ordered n−tuples is called a space and is denoted by Rn . Rn is a space of position vectors. Hence, R2 and R3
are sets of ordered pairs and ordered triples, respectively.
Definition 4. A zero vector is O = (0, 0, . . . , 0).

Definition 5. Given two vectors u = (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) and v = (b1 , b2 , . . . , bn ) in Rn ,

(i) The two vectors are said to be equal if

u1 = v1 , u2 = v2 , ..., un = vn .

(ii) The sum of u and v is defined by

u + v = (a1 + b1 , a2 + b2 , . . . , an + bn )

(iii) If k is a scalar, then the scalar multiple k u is defined by

k u = (k a1 , k a2 , . . . , k an )

(iv) The difference of u and v is defined by

u − v = (a1 − b1 , a2 − b2 , . . . , an − bn )

Theorem 1 (Properties of vectors in Rn ). If u = (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ), v = (b1 , b2 , . . . , bn ) and w = (c1 , c2 , . . . , cn ) in Rn ,

and k; l are any scalars, then
(i) u+v=v+u (Commutative)
(ii) u + (v + w) = (u + v) + w = u + v + w (Associative)
(iii) k(l u) = (kl) u
(iv) k(u + v) = ku + kv
(v) (k + l)u = ku + lv
(vi) 1u=u
Definition 6. Let u = (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) and v = (b1 , b2 , . . . , bn ) in Rn , then the inner product of u and v is defined by

u · v = a1 b1 + a2 b2 + . . . + an bn

Theorem 2 (Properties of inner products). If u and v are vectors in Rn and k is any scalar, then
(i) u·v=v·u (Commutative)
(ii) (u + v) · w = u · w + v · w (Distributive)
(iii) (ku) · v = k(u · v)
(iv) u · u ≥ 0. Furthermore, u · u = 0 if and only if u = 0

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Definition 7. Given u = (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) and v = (b1 , b2 , . . . , bn ) in Rn , then
1. The norm of u is defined by q
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kuk = (u · u) 2 = a21 + a22 + . . . + a2n
2. The distance between u and v is defined by
p
d(u, v) = ku − vk = (a1 − b1 )2 + (a2 − b2 )2 + . . . (an − bn )2
Theorem 3 (Cauchy-Schwarz inequality). If u and v in Rn , then
|u · v| ≤ kuk kvk
Theorem 4. If u and v in Rn and k is any scalar, then
(i) kuk ≥ 0
(ii) kuk = 0 iff u = 0
(iii) kk uk = |k| kuk
(iv) ku + vk ≤ kuk + kvk (TRIANGLE INEQUALITY)
Definition 8. Two vectors u and v in Rn are said to be orthogonal if u · v = 0.
Theorem 5 (Pythagorean). If u and v are orthogonal in Rn , then
ku + vk2 = kuk2 + kvk2

Exercises
1. Let u = (−3, 2, 1, 0), v = (4, 7, −3, 2) and w = (5, −2, 8, 1). Find
(a) v − w
(b) −u + (v − 4w)
(c) (6v − w) − (4u + v)
2. Show that there do not exist scalars c1 , c2 and c3 such that
c1 (1, 0, 1, 0) + c2 (1, 0, −2, 1) + c3 (2, 0, 1, 2) = (1, −2, 2, 3)
3. Let u = (4, 1, 2, 3), v = (0, 3, 8, −2) and w = (3, 1, 2, 2) in R4 . Find
(a) ku + vk
(b) kuk + kvk
(c) Verify the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality
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(d) w
kwk
4. Let u = (2, −2, 2) and v = (0, 4, −2) in R3 . Find d(u, v).
5. Let u = (2, 0, −3, 1), v = (4, 0, 3, 5) and w = (1, 6, 2, −1) in R4 . Also let k = 5 and l = −3. Verify (ii); (v); (vi);
(vii) of Theorem 1, and (ii) and (iii) of Theorem 2.
6. Determine whether or not the following vectors are orthogonal
(a) u = (−1, 3, 2) and v = (4, 2, −1) in R3
(b) u = (−4, 6, −10, 1) and v = (2, 1, −2, 9) in R4
(c) u = (a, b) and v = (−b, a) in R2
7. For what values of k are the vectors
u = (k, k, 1) and v = (k, 5, 6)
orthogonal?

c Compiled by SM Simelane