Dot product Definition and 382 Threads

I've attached an image of part a of the question to this thread. My question is this (the solution to these former homework problems are posted to help us study for exam, which is why know this already): The angle between the two velocity vectors is determined to be pi/2. How? I know that dot...

Dear All, Here is one of my doubts I encountered after studying many linear algebra books and texts. The Euclidean space is defined by introducing the so-called "standard" dot (or inner product) product in the form: (\boldsymbol{a},\boldsymbol{b}) = \sum \limits_{i} a_i b_i With that one...

Homework Statement [/B] Use vectors and the dot product to prove that the midpoint of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equidistant to all three vertices. Homework Equations [/B] I know the dot product is A⋅B = |A||B|cosΘ ... or ... A1B1 + A2B2 + A3B3 ... + AnBn I know the...

Hi - just working through my text (studying by correspondence) on Del operator - so Curl, div etc. Came across some identities parts of which which have me confused. what does it mean when a vector is shown as multiplying something - but without dot or cross? For example F(∇.G) or ∇(F.G) or...

Homework Statement If at some particular place and time the sun light is incident on the surface of the Earth along a direction defined by the unitary vector – vˆ , where vˆ =(4, 3, 5)/sqrt (50) and with a power density P, what is the total power captured by a solar panel of 1.4 m2 and with...

Find the basis of the subspace of R4 that consists of all vectors perpendicular to both [1, -2, 0, 3] and [0,2,1,3]. My teacher applies dot product: Let [w,x,y,z] be the vectors in the subspace. Then, w-2x+3z=0 and 2x+y+3z=0 So, she solves the system and get the following: Subspace= {...

Homework Statement So a kaon moving at some speed in the +x direction spontaneously decays into one pion and one anti-pion. The anti-pion moves away with velocity of 0.8c, and the pion moves away with velocity of 0.9c. Mass of kaon = 498 MeV/c^2 Mass of pion/anti-pion = 140 MeV/c^2...

I'm just trying to understand from a linear algebra standpoint how they define dot product from the inner product and how this gives rise to a definition of length and angle. somehow there is a way to combine points in space to a scalar value that unambiguously determines length and angle? Is...

Alright, so I was reading up on tensors and such with non-Cartesian coordinate systems all day but now I'm a bit tired an confused so you'll have to forgive me if it's a stupid question. So to express the dot product in some coordinate system, it's: g(\vec{A}\,,\vec{B})=A^aB^bg_{ab} And, if...

So, is there anyway to make the dot product change linearly? What I mean by this is when the angle is 45 degrees, I want it to be 0.5 instead of 0.7071 as you can see in this image: Instead I want 45 degrees to be 0.5, 60 degrees to be 0.33 and 30 degrees to be 0.66. Same would apply for...

I'm reading through Douglas Gregory's Classical Mechanics, and at the start of chapter 6 he says that m \vec{v} \cdot \frac{d\vec{v}}{dt} = \frac{d}{dt}\left(\frac12 m \vec{v} \cdot \vec{v}\right), but I'm not sure how to get the right hand side from the left hand side. If someone could point...

Hello, I'm working with a problem in linear elasticity, and I have to calculate the strain energy function as follows: 2W = σijεij Where σ and ε are symmetric rank 2 tensors. For cartesian coordinates it is really easy because the metric is just the identity matrix, hence: 2W = σxxεxx +...

Hi everyone, I have to find out how to do cross and dot product for two vectors in non-orthogonal coordinate system. thanks

Homework Statement In an equilateral triangle with sides u, v, w, where they are all unit vectors, find u dot w. Homework Equations u dot w = |u||w|cosθ The Attempt at a Solution The answer is ##\frac {-1} {2} ## cos(120) = -1/2 Elsewhere, I read the statement that since these are...

I know intuitively that the Cross Product of two vectors ##\vec{A}## and ##\vec{B}## represents another vector ##\vec{A \times B}## perpendicular to it. In study of physics we come across this situation a lot. Hence I can visualize some applications of it I know that the dot product of...

Homework Statement I am trying to calculate the flux for the octant of a sphere, and I am trying to figure out how the mathematics, dot products, and dA works in the integral. I already did the quadrant for \hat{θ} where θ= π/2 (the bottom quadrant) and I did the left quadrant where \hat{n}...

Vectors -- dot product and cross product? Hello may i know when to dot product and cross product?? both look to same to me..

Let's say A and B are 2 vectors with length in cm and the angle between them is 170°. Obviously, the dot product of A and B will give cm2 as unit but since the value of cos(170) is negative, will the dot product be negative (something)cm2?

I am trying to understand the difference from a physical phenomena point of view, not just math. Surprisingly I think I got the cross product like in rotational momentum. You have the momentum vector and we have effective distance from the momentum vector R that needs to be perpendicular to the...

Hey everyone, This has been bugging me for a bit. I think I'm probably missing something pretty easy. A dot B= ABcos(θ), where θ is the angle between A and B. There is the little shortcut that says where B is the derivative of A, A dot B= AB. Clearly then cos(θ) = 1, and the angle between a...

"Projection Using Dot Product" "Finding a Force" (Boat Problem) Homework Statement ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A 600 pound boat sits on a ramp inclined at 30 degrees. What force is required to keep the boat from rolling down...

I'm not sure which section is best to post this question in. I was wondering if the expression (u $ ∇) is the same as (∇ $ u). Here $ represents the dot product (I couldn't find this symbol. ∇=del, the vector differentiation operator and u is the velocity vector or any other vector

Problem 1: Let S1 be a sphere centered at(0, 1, -3) with radius 1 and let S2 be a sphere centered at (3, 5, -9) with radius 2. Find the distance between the two spheres. problem 2: Given three non-zero vectors v1, v2, v3 we say that they are mutually orthogonal when v1 dot v2= 0, v1 dot v3=0 ...

Homework Statement The dot product of.two vectors is -1which of the following statements is true A. They must be unit vectors pointing in opposite directions. B. They must be unit vectors pointing j. The same direction. C. They must be more than 90( and less than 270 )degrees from each...

Homework Statement Show that the dot product in two-dimensional space is linear: <u|(|v> + |w>) = <u|v> + <u|w> The Attempt at a Solution I feel like I'm missing some grasp of the concept here ... I would think to just distribute the <u| and be done in that one step, but I'm being...

Homework Statement That is prove that |a•c|≤|a||c| for any vector a=<a1,a2,a3> & c=<c1,c2,c3> Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I really don't have much of an attempt at the solution. I am not sure where to start. I can kind of justify it in my mind by saying the...

I'm so confused about finding an angle, theta in this illustration. With having three coordinate information, how can I calculate the theta using dot product? I would easily find the angle by using trigonometric formula if I ignore the z-axis. But I want to solve this problem with...

A simple question: what is the difference between inner product and dot product?

Hello, I have a quick question about integrals of dot products. We are learning about magnetic flux as the integral of b dot da. However, what circumstances must be present where we can simplify this integral into (b*a) and ignore the integral?

How does one change the dot product such that there is no dot product in between, just plain multiplication? For example, in the following: eb.\partialcea=-\Gammaa bc How do I get just an expression for \partialcea?

Homework Statement Prove that if u and v are nonzero vectors, and theta is the angle between them then u dot product v = ||u|| ||v|| cos (theta). Consider the triangle with sides u ,v , and u-v. The Law of Cosines implies that ||u-v||^2 = ||u||^2 + ||v||^2 - 2||u|| ||v|| cos(theta). On the...

can you show me derive cross product from dot product?

Hi, I am trying find the simplified expression of this: ∇(E \cdot E) Where E is the electric field that can written as E_{0}(exp(i(kx-ωt)) I know that since the two vectors are the same => E \cdot E = ||E||^{2} Do I take the gradient of the magnitude then? It just doesn't feel...

Homework Statement if v x w = <5,5,-2> (v cross w) and v * w = 6 (v dot w) then what is the tan(θ) between the two vectors v and w? The Attempt at a Solution well I was thinking v x w = |v||w|sinθ as well as v dot w (v*w) = |v|w|cosθ divide one equation by the other...

Homework Statement A constant force of 1i - 5j -8k moves (1,-4,2) (-3,2,-1), what is the work done on the particle? Homework Equations Avector*Bvector=ABsinθ ?? I think? The Attempt at a Solution I really am quite lost... but I found the coordinates for the position vector...

The problem is: Let A be a real m x n matrix and let x be in R^n and y be in R^m (n and m dimensional real vector spaces, respectively). Show that the dot product of Ax with y equals the dot product of x with A^Ty (A^T is the transpose of A). The way I went about starting this problem is to...

$$ \frac{(\dot{\mathbf{r}}\times\ddot{\mathbf{r}}) \times\dot{\mathbf{r}}}{\lvert\dot{\mathbf{r}} \rvert\lvert\dot{\mathbf{r}}\times\ddot{\mathbf{r}}\rvert} $$ How do I take that dot product of the expression of above with itself?

Homework Statement Does the Cauchy Schwarz inequality hold if we define the dot product of two vectors A,B \in V_n by \sum_{k=1}^n |a_ib_i| ? If so, prove it. Homework Equations The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality: (A\cdot B)^2 \leq (A\cdot A)(B\cdot B) . Equality holds iff one of the vectors...

Homework Statement Let A be a vector perpendicular to every vector X. Show that A = O Edit: it is O not 0. (OH not zero) haHomework Equations So, we know if A and X are perpendicular then A(dot)X = 0 I see no reason why A would have to be equal to 0. Could X (not equal) 0? Could it be...

Understanding the use of Pythagorean theorem for the length and square of a vector and how this is the dot product of a vector with itself is no problem. I'm trying to look inside the meaning of the dot product of two different vectors and understand it. I can also accept (just following the...

Problem: In Kleppner's book, Introduction to Mechanics, he states "By writing \vec{A} and \vec{B} as the sums of vectors along each of the coordinate axes, you can verify that \vec{A} \cdot \vec{B} = A_{x}B_{x} + A_{y}B_{y} + A_{z}B_{z}." He suggests summing vectors, but since the sum of two...

This seems like a very basic question that I should know the answer to, but in my image processing class, my teacher explained that a basis set of images(matrices) are orthonormal. He said that the DOT product between two basis images (in this case two 2x2 matrices) is 0. so, for example...

Hi all, I'm working on a math problem with a known answer - though I can't reproduce the maths. The problem is this: there is a random 3d vector of unit length with a uniform probability, \vec{v}, and a secondary unit vector \vec{u}. It is stated that: f = \int_{S^2}{| \vec{v} \cdot...

The definition of the dot product is given by A = <a1,b1> B = <a2,b2> A dot B = a1a2 + b1b2 Is this definition valid for orthogonal coordinates only?

R <x,y,z> A<a1,a2,a3> B<b1,b2,b3> Show that (r-a).(r-b)=0 represents a sphere find its center and radius So i see that if 2 vectors are orthogonal you can create a sphere and find the radius and center but can somone better explain this problem

find 2 unit vectors that make an angle of pi/3 with <3,4> <3,4>dot<a,b>=5/2=3a+4b b=5/8-3/4 a |<a,b>|=1 such that a^2+25/64+15/16a+9/16 a^2=1 25/16 a^2+15/16/ a=39/64 100a^2+60a=39 a^2+3/5a=39/100 (a+3/10)^2=48/100 a=(4sqrt(3)+-3)/10 so b=5/8-(12sqrt(3)+9)/40...

Find 2 unit vectors that make a 60 degree angle with <3,4> Vector <a,b> Taking b=1 cos60=1/2 3a+4=(5/2 )sqrt(a^2+1) 36a^2+96a+64=25a^2+25 11a^2+96a=-39 (sqrt(11)a+48)^2= 2265 +- a=(sqrt(2265)-48)/sqrt(11)

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?

Homework Statement The Attempt at a Solution I am working a physics problem and want to make sure I'm not making a mistake in the math. Here is my math inquiry: Say you have (a*b)(c*d) where * indicates the dot product, and a,b,c, and d are all vectors. Can you say that (a*b)(c*d) =...

Homework Statement Let ##\gamma(t)## be a path describing a level curve of ##f : \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}##. Show, for all ##t##, that ##( \nabla f ) (\gamma(t))## is orthogonal to ##\gamma ' (t)##Homework Equations ##\gamma(t) = ((x(t), y(t))## ##\gamma ' (t) = F(\gamma(t))## ##F = \nabla f...