Value squared a dot product?

Eats Dirt

I was recently going through the proof of Compton scattering and I saw that they took a square value and wrote it as p^2=p(dot)p= etc... Is this true or all squared values?

SteamKing

Use the definition of dot product and see what you get for a general vector.

Eats Dirt

Quote by SteamKing

Use the definition of dot product and see what you get for a general vector.

<A,A>=AAcos(0)=AA(1)=AA=A^2

So this only applies when numbers are squared. I just find it strange that the dot product only applies to when normal multiplication is the square of a number and not at any other cases for example if A=/=B AB=/=ABcosθ. I guess I just don't understand where the dot product comes from enough to understand why it works like this.

SteamKing

A dot B can be thought of a the projection of A onto B. If A and B are the same vector, then A dot B = A^2

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Eats Dirt	Value squared a dot product? Tweet I was recently going through the proof of Compton scattering and I saw that they took a square value and wrote it as p^2=p(dot)p= etc... Is this true or all squared values?

SteamKing Recognitions: Homework Help	Use the definition of dot product and see what you get for a general vector.

SteamKing Recognitions: Homework Help	Value squared a dot product? A dot B can be thought of a the projection of A onto B. If A and B are the same vector, then A dot B = A^2