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CIE A Level Maths: Pure 3 Your notes

7.2 Vectors in 3 Dimensions

Contents
7.2.1 Vectors in 3 Dimensions
7.2.2 Problem Solving using 3D Vectors

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7.2.1 Vectors in 3 Dimensions

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Vectors in 3 Dimensions
What is a 3-D vector?
Vectors represent a movement of a certain magnitude (size) in a given direction
You should have already come across (2D) vectors at AS (see Basic Vectors)
3-D vectors describe the position of a point in a 3-D space in relation to the origin
They can be represented in different ways such as a column vector or in i, j, k unit vector form

Magnitude of a 3-D vector

The magnitude of a 3-D vector is simply its size
Like 2-D vectors we can find the magnitude using Pythagoras’ theorem (see Magnitude Direction)

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For 3-D position vectors we can find the distance between two points
By using the respective co-ordinates we can calculate the magnitude of the vector between them:

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3-D vector addition, scalars, parallel vectors and unit vectors

3-D vectors work in the same way as 2-D vectors, just in three dimensions rather than two
Vector addition and subtraction and scalar multiplication can be carried out in exactly the same way,
this time involving i, j and k or x, y and z
3-D vectors are also parallel if one is a multiple of the other

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Unit vectors in 3-D are found in exactly the same way as in 2-D

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7.2.2 Problem Solving using 3D Vectors

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Problem Solving using 3D Vectors
Problem-solving with 3-D vectors
3-D vector problems can be solved using the same principles as 2-D vector problems (see Problem
Solving using Vectors)
Vectors can be used to prove two lines are parallel, to show points are collinear (lie on the same
straight line) or to find missing vertices of a given shape

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Using trig in 3-D vector problems

3-D vector problems can also involve using trigonometry to:
find the angle between two vectors using Cosine Rule
find the area of a triangle using a variation of Area Formula

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You can find the angle between a vector and any one of the coordinate axes by using the following
formulae

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These formulae are not in the exam formulae book

However, they may be derived using SOHCAHTOA as shown in the diagram
The formulae also work for vectors in two dimensions

Exam Tip
If there is a diagram, labelling all known vectors and quantities will help, and don’t worry about
trying to make your diagram 3-D, as long as you label it well.

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