VECTOR ALGEBRA

MATH23
MULTIVARIABLE CALCULUS

GENERAL
OBJECTIVE
At the end of the lesson the students are
expected to:
Define Vectors and Differentiate it against scalar
quantities
Find the norms of a vector
Perform Basic Algebraic with given vectors

Vectors
Definition: A vector is a quantity which has
both a magnitude and a direction.
Examples:
1.Velocity - The wind speed and wind direction
together form a vector quantity called the
wind velocity. Example of wind velocity is
20mi/hr northeast.
2.Displacement- The displacement of 3=(+3)
describes a position change of 3 units in the
positive direction, and a displacement of -3
describes a position change of 3 units in the
negative direction.

Vectors
Examples:
3.Force - The arrow in figure below shows
a force vector of 10lb acting in a specific
direction in the block.
10lb
A force acting on a block

Scalars
Definition: A quantity which can be
described by a magnitude only is
called a scalar.
Examples:
1.area
2.Length

3 mass
4. temperature

Vectors Viewed
Geometrically

Vectors can be viewed geometrically

by arrows in 2-space or 3-space; the
direction of the arrow specifies the
direction of the vector and the length of
the arrow describes its magnitude.
The tail of the arrow is called the
initial point of the vector, and the tip of
Terminal point
the arrow the terminal
point.
v
Initial point

Notations:
v w
x
We will denote the vectors with lowercase type
with an arrow over it such as
,
and

Vectors in Rectangular Coordinate

System

A. Vector with Initial Point at the Origin

A vector v is positioned with its initial point
at the origin and terminal point (v1 , v2 ) or (v1 ,
v2 , v3 ). The coordinates of the terminal point
of v are called the components of v. Thus,
v = <v1 , v2 > or v = <v1 , v2 , v3 >
y

(v1,v 2 )
v

(0,0)

Vectors in Rectangular Coordinate

System

B. Vector with Initial Point not at the

Origin
(2-space)

Theorem: If P1 P2 is a vector in 2-space with

initial point P1 (x1 , y1) and terminal point P2
(x2 , y2 ), then
P2 (x 2 , y 2 )

P1 P2 = <x2PP x1 , y2 y1 >
1 2
P1(x1, y1 )

Vectors in Rectangular Coordinate

System

B. Vector with Initial Point not at the

Origin

Similarly, if P1 P2 is a vector in 3-space with

initial point P1 (x1 , y1, z1 ) and terminal point P2
(x2 , y2 , z2 ), then
P1zP2 = < x2 x1 , y2 y1 ,Pz(2x- , y
z 1>
2
2
2)

P1P2

P1(x1, y1 )
O (0,0,0)
x

Vectors in Three Dimensional

Space
Examples:
1.Find the components of the vectorP1 P2
if
P 1(-1, 5) and P2(4, 1) and
sketch an equivalent vector with its initial
point with the origin.

P1 P2

2.Find the components of the vector

if
P 1(2, 0, 4) and P2(0, 3, 4) and
sketch an equivalent vector with its initial
point with the origin.

Vectors in Three Dimensional

Space

Properties:
1. Equal vectors
Two vectors, v and w, are equal (also called
equivalent) if they have the same length
and same direction.
Geometrically, two vectors are equal if they
are translations of one another or they are
in different positions.
2. Equivalent Vectors
Theorem: Two vectors are equivalent if and
only if their corresponding components are
equal.

Vectors in Three Dimensional

Space

Examples:
1. Two vectors <a+3, b-2, c+2> and
<1, -4, 2> are equivalent if and only if
a=-2, b = -2 and c=0.

Vectors in Three Dimensional

Space

Basic Operations on Vectors

If v = <v1 , v2> and w = <w1 , w2> are
vectors in 2-space and k is any scalar, then
the
a) Sum
v + w = <v1 + w1 , v2 + w2 >
b) Difference
v w = <v1 w1 , v2 w2 >
c) Scalar Multiplication
kv = <kv1 , kv2>

Vectors in Three Dimensional

Space
Arithmetic Operations on Vectors
Similarly, if v = <v1 , v2 , v3 > and
w = <w1 , w2 , w3 > are vectors
in 3-space and k is any scalar, then
a) Sum
v + w = <v1 + w1 , v2 + w2 , v3 + w3 >
b) Difference
v w = <v1 w1, v2 w2, v3 w3>
c) Scalar Multiple
kv = <kv1 , kv2, kv3>

Scalar Multiplication
Note:
kv is defined to be the vector whose
k
length
is

times the length

of
v

and whose

direction
is the same as that of
v
and opposite to that of
Illustration:
v
2v

1
v
2

, if k > 0

if k<0.
v

3
v
2

Vectors in Rectangular Coordinate

System

Examples

1) If v 2,0,1 and w 3,5,4 , find

a) v w

b) 3v

c) -w

d) w 2v

Vectors
Norm of a Vector
The distance between the initial and
terminal points of a vector v is called the
length, the norm, or the magnitude of v
and is denoted by v.
Thus, if v v1,v 2 is a vector in 2-space, then
2
2
v

v
the norm of vis given by
1
2
If v v1,v 2 ,v 3 is a vector in 3-space, then
2
2
3
v
v

v
the norm of
is given by
1
2
2

Vectors
Example:
1. Find the normvof

if

a ) v 1,4, 3
b) v 5, 2
c) v P1 P2 where P (2,0,3) and P2( 0 ,1, 4 )

Vectors
Unit Vector
A vector of length 1 is called a unit vector.
In xy coordinate system, the unit vectors along
the x and y axes are denoted by i and j
respectively; and in xyz coordinate system the
unit vectors along the x, y and z axes are
denoted by i, j and k respectively. Thus,
2 space: i = <1, 0>, j = <0, 1>
3-space: i = <1, 0, 0>, j = <0, 1, 0>, k =
<0, 0, 1>

Unit Vectors
y

j
O

O i

Vectors
Every vector in 2-space is
expressible in terms of i and j, and
every vector in 3-space is expressible
v v1of
,v 2 i, j, and k as follows:
in terms
v1,0 0,v 2
v1 1,0 v 2 0,1
v1i v 2 j

v v1,v 2 ,v 3
v1,0,0 0,v 2 ,0 0,0,v 3
v1 1,0,0 v 2 0,1,0 v 3 0,0,1
v1i v 2 j v 3k

Vectors in Three Dimensional

Space

v
Unit Vector in the Direction of
v v1,v 2, then the unit vector in the
If
v
direction of
can be found by
uv

v
v

The process of multiplying a vector by the

reciprocal of its length to obtain a unit
vector with the same direction is called
v
normalizing
.

Vectors in Three Dimensional

Space
Examples
1. Find a unit vector that has the
v 2ias
2j k
same direction
2. Find vector that is same direction
as the vector from the point A(-1, 2, 0)
to the point B(3, 1, 1).

Vectors in Three Dimensional

Space
Vector Determined by Length and Angle

If v is nonzero vector with its initial point at the

origin of an xy coordinate system, and if is the
angle from the positive x-axis to the radial line through v ,
then the x-components of can be written as v cos and
the

y-components as v sin ; and

hence can be expressed in trigonometric form as

or

v = v <cos , sin >

= v cos i + v sin j

Exercise Set 11.2

Sketch the vectors with their initial points at the origin.
1. a) <-5, 4> b) 3i 2j c) <2, 2, -1>
d) 2i + 3j 2k
2. Find the components of the vector AB and sketch an
equivalent vector with its initial point at the origin.
a) A (2, 3), B (-3, 3) b) A (3, 0, 4), B (0, 4, 4)
3. a) Find the terminal point of v = <7, 6> if the initial
point is (2, -1).
b) Find the terminal point of v = i + 2j 3k if the initial
point is (-2, 1, 4).
4. Perform the stated operations on the given vectors
u = <2, -1, 3>, v = <4, 0, -2>, and w = <1, 1, 3>.
a) 2v (u + w)

Exercise Set 11.2

4. Find the norm of v.

a) v = <3, 4> b) v = i + j + k
22. Find unit vectors that satisfy the stated
conditions.
a) Oppositely directed to 3i 4j.
b) Same direction as 2i j 2k.
c) Same direction as the vector from the point
A (-3, 2) to the point B (1, -1).
24. Find the vectors that satisfy the stated
conditions.
a) Same direction as v = -2i + 3j and three
times the length of v.
b) Length 2 and oppositely directed to v = -3i + 4j
+ k.

Exercise Set 11.2

26. Find the component forms of v + w and v w in
2-space, given that v = 1, w = 1, v makes an
angle of /6 with the positive x-axis, and w makes
an angle of 3 /4 with the positive x-axis.
32. Let u =<-1, 1>, v =<0,1>, and w = <3, 4>. Find
the vector x that satisfies u 2x = x w + 3v.
34. Find u and v if u+ v = <2, -3> and 3u + 2v = <1, 2>.

SUGGESTED READINGS

TEXTBOOKS

Anton, Howard; Bivens Irl and Davis Stephen

Calculus,
Early Transcendentals, Chapter 7 pages
547 to 555
Peterson, Thurman S Calculus With Analytic
Geometry,
Chapter 14 pages 289 to 292