Calculating a and b in 3D Unit Vector Question for Test Prep

Wardlaw
Messages
27
Reaction score
0
I was given the question,

If u=ai+2j+4k and v=3i+bj+k, calculate a and b
in a textbook from school (revision for a test).

Any thoughts?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
(Moderator's note: thread moved from "General Math")

Wardlaw said:
I was given the question,

If u=ai+2j+4k and v=3i+bj+k, calculate a and b
in a textbook from school (revision for a test).
It looks like more information is needed to solve the problem. What are the constraints on u and v? Do they need to be parallel, or perpendicular, or something else? If they're just arbitrary vectors, a and b could be anything.
Any thoughts?
Please give us yours first...:wink:
 
No need! Done it.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top