Dot Product & Projections

SUGGESTED REFERENCE MATERIAL:

As you work through the problems listed below, you should reference Chapter 11.3 of the rec-
ommended textbook (or the equivalent chapter in your alternative textbook/online resource)
and your lecture notes.

EXPECTED SKILLS:
• Know how to compute the dot product of two vectors.
• Be able to use the dot product to find the angle between two vectors; and, in particular,
be able to determine if two vectors are orthogonal.
• Know how to compute the direction cosines of a vector.
• Be able to decompose vectors into orthogonal components. And, know how to compute
the orthogonal projection of one vector onto another.
PRACTICE PROBLEMS:

1. For each of the following, compute →

−
u ·→
−
v based on the given information.

(a) →
−
u = h3, −1i; →
−v = h2, −5i
11
(b) u = h4, −5, 1i; →
→
− −
v = h3, 6, −1i
−19
(c) →
−
u = i − 3j + 4k; →
−v = 9i − 2j;
15
π
(d) k→
−u k = 3; k→
−
v k = 4; the angle between →
−
u and →
−
v is
4
√
6 2

2. Explain why the operation (u · v) · w does not make sense.

u · v is a scalar. We cannot take the dot product of a scalar with a vector.

3. Determine whether the angle between → −

v = h1, 2, 3i and →−
w = h−6, 4, −1i is acute,
obtuse, or right. Explain.
Since →
−
v ·→−
w = −1 < 0, the angle between the two vectors is obtuse.

4. Give an example of a vector which is orthogonal to both →

−
v = h1, 1, 1i and →
−
w = h2, 0, 4i.
(Hint: Set up a system of equations.)
Any scalar multiple of →
−
n = h−2, 1, 1i is orthogonal to both given vectors.

1
5. Consider the triangle with vertices a, b, and c.

Use vectors to compute the angle between the diagonal which extends from vertex a
to vertex b and the line segment which extends from vertex a to vertex c. (Verify your
answer with HW 11.1 #3c.)
√ !
13
cos−1 √
14

6. Consider the triangle, shown below,with vertices A(1, −2, 6), B(3, 0, −1), and C(−2, 1, 0).

Compute all three angles of the triangle.

2
  
−1 42
Angle A has a measure of cos √ √ radians.
 57 54 
15
Angle B has a measure of cos−1 √ √ radians.
 57 27 
12
Angle C has a measure of cos−1 √ √ radians.
54 27
(NOTE: Once you find any two of the angles, you can use the fact that the sum of all
of the angles must be π radians to compute the remaining angle.)
→
−
7. Let →
−
v = h1, 2i and b = h−3, 4i.
→
−
(a) Find the vector component of → −v along b and the vector component of →−v or-
→
−
thogonal to b .
 
→
− →
− →
− 3 4
The vector component of v along b is Proj− → v =
b
− , and the vector
 55
→
− 8 6
component of →−v orthogonal to b is →
−v − Proj−
b
→
−
→ v = , .
5 5
→
−
(b) Sketch →
−
v , b , and the vector components that you found in part (a).

8. Express v = i + 2j + 3k as the sum of a vector parallel to b = −2i + 4j − k and a

vector perpendicular to b
   
2 4 1 9 10 22
v = − , ,− + , ,
7 7 7 7 7 7

9. Suppose that u 6= 0 and v 6= 0. Under what condition will ku + vk = ku − vk?

Explain.
The result follows if u is orthogonal to v.

3
10. The following questions deal with finding the distance from a point to a line:

(a) Given three points A, B, and P in 2-space or 3-space as shown in the picture
below, describe two different ways that you could use the dot product to calculate
the distance, d, between the point P and the line which contains A and B.

OPTION 1: −→ −→
One can compute AP and Proj−→ AP . Then, use Pythagorean Theorem to

AB
calculate d.

OPTION 2:
−→ −→ −→
One can compute ProjAB AP . Then, d = AP − ProjAB AP .
−→ −→

(b) Use one of your methods from part (a) to compute the distance from the point
P (5, 3, 0) to the line containing A(1, 0, 1) and B(2, 3, 1).
r
91
d=
10

11. Consider the triangle shown below which is formed by vectors v and w.

Prove Pythagorean’s Theorem kv + wk2 = kvk2 + kwk2 . (Hint: Use properties of the
dot product to expand kv + wk2 .)

4
 We expand kv + wk2 using properties of the dot product:

kv + wk2 = (v + w) · (v + w)
=v·v+v·w+w·v+w·w
= kvk2 + 2(v · w) + kwk2 (since v · w = w · v)
= kvk2 + kwk2 (since v ⊥ w ⇔ v · w = 0)

Thus, kv + wk2 = kvk2 + kwk2 , as promised.

12. Let A and B be endpoints of a diameter of a circle with a radius of r . And, suppose
that C is any other point on the circle, as shown below.

−→ −−→
Prove that triangle ABC is a right triangle. (Hint: Express each of CA and CB as
−→
the combination of CO and some other vector.)
Notice that CA = CO + OA and CB = CO + OB. But, OB = −OA. Thus,
CB = CO − OA. We will show that CA ⊥ CB by showing that CA · CB = 0.

CA · CB = (CO + OA) · (CO − OA)

= CO · CO − CO · OA + OA · CO − OA · OA
= kCOk2 − kOAk2
= r2 − r2
=0

So, CA ⊥ CB and the triangle is a right triangle.

5
13. Let →
−v and → −
w be vectors, either both in R2 or in R3 . Prove the Cauchy-Schwarz
Inequality: |→
−
v ·→
−
w | ≤ k→−
v kk→
−w k.
Suppose that θ is the angle between →
−
v and →
−
w . Then:

|→
−
v ·→
−
w | = |k→
−v kk→
−w k cos θ|
= (k v k) (k→
→
− −w k) (| cos θ|)
→
− →
−
≤ (k v k) (k w k) (1)
= k→
−v kk→
−wk

Thus, |→
−
v ·→
−
w | ≤ k→
−
v kk→
−
w k, as promised.

14. Let →
−
v = h1, 2, 3i.

(a) Compute the direction cosines of →

−
v.
Let α, β, and γ be the angles between →
−
v and i, j, and k, respectively. Then:
1 2 3
cos α = √ , cos β = √ , and cos γ = √
14 14 14
(b) Verify that cos2 α + cos2 β + cos2 γ = 1, where α, β, and γ be the angles between
→
−
v and i, j, and k, respectively.
Using the information from part (a), we obtain:
 2  2  2
2 2 2 1 2 3
cos α + cos β + cos γ = √ + √ + √
14 14 14
1 4 9
= + +
14 14 14
=1