Vectors

💡 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction to Vectors
Magnitude and Direction of a Vector
Zero Vector
Unit Vector
Operations on Vectors
Addition of Vectors
Subtractions of Vectors
Normalization of a Vector
Scalar (or Dot) Product Of Two Vectors
Things to remember -
Vector (or Cross) Product of Two Vectors
Useful Properties of Unit Vectors
More Resources
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If you want to be a 3D programmer, vectors should be on top of your priority

list. A good 3D programmer knows how to manipulate vectors.

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Introduction to Vectors

💡 Vectors are defined by n-tuples of real numbers, where n equals 2,3 or 4. Simply put —
n-vector is a list of n numbers. Programmers can think of it as an array.

Vectors can be used to store locations but locations are not vectors. For instance, you
can add 2 vectors but it does not make sense to add 2 locations.

An n dimensional vector V can be written as 👇

V = ⟨V1 , V2 , ....Vn ⟩ (1)

Here, V1 , V2 , V3 , … Vn are called the components of the vector V.

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Vectors 1
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 Note that there is no arrow on top of the components V1 , V2 , V3 . This is because the components
of a vector are scalar quantities.

Likewise, for a three dimensional vector P , its components would be written as Px , Py , Pz .

Therefore,

P = ⟨Px , Py , Pz ⟩ (2)

The same can be represented as a matrix having a single column and n rows like so 👇
⎡ V1 ⎤
V2
.
V = (3)
.
.
⎣Vn ⎦

So equation (1.2) above can be rewritten in the matrix form as follows 👇

⎡Px ⎤
P = Py (4)
⎣ Pz ⎦

Magnitude and Direction of a Vector

From a geometric point of view, a vector is a line segment that has a magnitude and a direction.

Magnitude - is the length of the vector.

Direction - describes the way the vector is pointing in space

💡 Direction and orientation are not same.

The magnitude of an n-dimensional vector V is a scalar denoted by ∣ V ∣ and is given by the

formula

n
∣V ∣ = ∑ Vi 2 (5)
i=1

Vectors 2
 So for a 3 dimensional vector 👇
P the magnitude will be calculated as follows

∣P ∣ = Px 2 + Py 2 + Pz 2 (6)

Zero Vector
A vector with the magnitude of 0 is called a zero vector. That is,

∣V ∣ = 0

Unit Vector
A vector with the magnitude of 1 is called a unit vector. That is,

∣V ∣ = 1

Operations on Vectors
Addition of Vectors
To add two vectors, we simply add the corresponding components like so -

⎡ P1 ⎤ ⎡ Q1 ⎤ ⎡ P1 + Q1 ⎤
P2 Q2 P2 + Q2
. . .
. + . = . (7)
. . .
+ Qn−1
⎣ Pn ⎦ ⎣ Qn ⎦ ⎣ Pn + Qn ⎦
Pn−1 Qn−1 Pn−1

Subtractions of Vectors
Subtracting is same as adding the negative, i.e P − Q = P + (−Q)
Therefore,

⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎛ ⎡ ⎤⎞ ⎡ ⎤
Vectors 3
 ⎡ P1 ⎤ ⎡ Q1 ⎤ ⎡ P1 ⎤ ⎛ ⎡ Q1 ⎤⎞ ⎡ P1 − Q1 ⎤
P2 Q2 P2 Q2 P2 − Q2
. . . . .
. − . = . + − . = . (8)
. . . . .
− Qn−1
⎣ Pn ⎦ ⎣ Qn ⎦ ⎣ Pn ⎦ ⎝ ⎣ Qn ⎦⎠ ⎣ Pn − Qn ⎦
Pn−1 Qn−1 Pn−1 Qn−1 Pn−1

Things to remember

1. A vector cannot be added or subtracted with a scalar or a vector of a different dimension

2. Vector addition is commutative, but vector subtraction is not. This means that
P + Q = Q + P but P − Q =
 P − Q . Rather P − Q = −( Q − P )

Normalization of a Vector
Often times, you will face a situation where you need to know the direction in which a 3D object is
facing in your game or 3D world space. Note that we are concerned only with the direction and
not the magnitude. This is when you should think of normalization immediately.

In order to normalize a non zero vector, we simply divide the vector by its magnitude. Like this👇
V
V norm = (9)
∣V ∣

Here V is not a zero vector, i.e ∣ V ∣ =

0

💡 The zero vector cannot be normalized. Mathematically it is not allowed as it would

result in division by zero.

Scalar (or Dot) Product Of Two Vectors

The scalar (or dot) product of two non-zero vectors is heavily used in 3D graphics because it
provides the difference between the directions in which the 2 vectors point. It can be denoted by
P . Q (read as P dot Q ) and can be defined as,

P . Q = ∣ P ∣.∣ Q ∣ cos θ (10)

where θ (0 ≤ θ ≤ π) is the angle between P and Q .

The dot product of 2 n-dimensional vectors P and Q , is given by the formula,

Vectors 4
 n
P . Q = ∑ Pi Qi (11)
i=1

Equation 1.9 means that the dot product of 2 vectors is given by the sum of the products of each
component. Therefore in 3 dimensions, we have 👇
⟹ P . Q = Px Qx + Py Qy + Pz Qz (12)

Generalizing eqn 1.12 for n components we get

⎡ P1 ⎤ ⎡ Q1 ⎤
P2 Q2
P3 Q3
. .
. = P1 Q1 + P2 Q2 + ⋯ + Pn−1 Qn−1 + Pn Qn (13)
. .
. .

⎣ Pn ⎦ ⎣ Qn ⎦
Pn−1 Qn−1

Things to remember -
1. The dot product of 2 vectors is a scalar quantity.

2. If P . Q = 0 i.e if ∣ P ∣.∣ Q ∣ cos θ = 0, then either ∣ P ∣ = 0 or ∣ Q ∣ = 0 or cos θ = 0. This

means that either (or both) of the vectors is a zero vector or else they are perpendicular to
each other i.e P ⊥ Q . Thus P . Q = 0 iff

a. P is a zero vector

b. Q is a zero vector

c. P ⊥Q

💡 Vectors whose dot product yields zero are called orthogonal vectors.

2 2
3. The square of a vector is equal to the square of its modulus i.e ( P ) = ∣P ∣

Vector (or Cross) Product of Two Vectors

The cross product of two three-dimensional vectors, also known as the vector product, returns a
new vector that is perpendicular to both of the vectors being multiplied together. This property is

Vectors 5
 used in computer graphics to calculate a surface normal at a particular point given 2 distinct
tangent vectors. It is denoted as P × Q (read as P vector “cross” Q vector).

Given two 3D vectors P and Q , the cross product P × Q satisfies the following equation 👇
∣ P × Q ∣ = ∣P ∣ ∣Q∣ sin α (14)

where α is the planar angle between the lines connecting the origin to the points represented by
P and Q .

It’s calculated using the following formula 👇

P × Q = ⟨Py Qz − Pz Qy , Pz Qx − Px Qz , Px Qy − Py Qx (15)

An easier way to remember this formula is by evaluating this pseudodeteminant 👇

∣ i j k ∣
P × Q = Px Py Pz (16)
∣Qx Qy Qz ∣

where i, j and k (read as i “cap”, j “cap” and k “cap”) are unit vectors parallel to the x, y and z
axes.

∣ i j k∣
Px Py Pz = i(Py Qz − Pz Qy ) − j (Px Qz − Pz Qx ) + k (Px Qy − Py Qx )
Q
∣ x Qy Qz ∣

Useful Properties of Unit Vectors

1. i×j =k
2. j ×k =i
3. k×i = j
4. j × i = −k
5. k × j = −i
6. i × k = −j

For two scalars a and b, and any three 3D vectors P , Q and R , the following properties hold 👇

Vectors 6
 1. Q × P = −( P × Q )

2. (a P ) × Q = a ( P × Q )

3. P × (Q + R ) = P × Q + P × R

4. P ×P =0

5. (P × Q) . R = ( R × P ) . Q = (Q × R ) . P
2
6. P × (Q × P ) = P × Q × P = P Q − (P .Q) P

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