Cross product of row and column vector

In summary: The sum of this product for all i gives the element ij of the new matrix.In summary, for matrices A and B, the dot product of row i in A and column j in B results in the element ij of the new matrix. This product has geometric significance as it determines if the rows of A and columns of B are orthogonal, with a dot product of 0 for all i ≠ j and 1 for all i = j. The row vector in A is in Rn space and the column vector in B is in R1 space, but the dot product considers the entire row and column, not just individual elements.
  • #1
Gear300
1,213
9
For the two matrices A and B, (AB)i,j = ri . dj ---- . refers to dot product ---- ri is the ith row in A and dj is the jth column in B.

Let us say that A and B are n x n system of column vectors. Then a row vector ri of A would correlate to a component vector of the sum of the column vectors in A specified by the ith space. Wouldn't that imply that ri . dj would only be the product between the element dj,i and the sum of the elements of ri or am I just being too technical?
 
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  • #2
Is this a question about the common matrix multiplication?
 
  • #3
Klockan3 said:
Is this a question about the common matrix multiplication?

Yup...the text said that if this dot product is 0 for all i =/= j and 1 for all i = j, then it carries geometric significance in that the rows of i in A and columns of j =/= i in B are orthogonal. I'm just trying to see this geometric significance.

In general, shouldn't the cross product of a 1 x n row vector in R1 and an n x 1 column vector in Rn space be the product between the sum of the elements in the row vector and the first element in the column vector?
 
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  • #4
Gear300 said:
Yup...the text said that if this cross product is 0 for all i =/= j and 1 for all i = j, then it carries geometric significance in that the rows of i in A and columns of j =/= i in B are orthogonal. I'm just trying to see this geometric significance.

In general, shouldn't the cross product of a 1 x n row vector in R1 and an n x 1 column vector in Rn space be the product between the sum of the elements in the row vector and the first element in the column vector?

I think you (or the book) must mean the dot product instead of the cross product. If the dot product of two vectors is zero then they are orthogonal.

The cross product of two vectors in R^n is not even defined if n > 3.
 
  • #5
awkward said:
I think you (or the book) must mean the dot product instead of the cross product. If the dot product of two vectors is zero then they are orthogonal.

The cross product of two vectors in R^n is not even defined if n > 3.

Heheh...a little typo there. I meant dot product.

What I'm having trouble understanding is what is being orthogonal to what; I figured that the row vector in A is considered a component of the vector sum of the matrix and has a direction specific to whatever value i is; but this vector is in R1 space, whereas the column vector is in Rn space with n > 1. Wouldn't this mean that the dot product with the row vector only applies to the element in row i for the column vector?
 
  • #6
Gear300 said:
Heheh...a little typo there. I meant dot product.

What I'm having trouble understanding is what is being orthogonal to what; I figured that the row vector in A is considered a component of the vector sum of the matrix and has a direction specific to whatever value i is; but this vector is in R1 space
The row vector is in Rn space, since there are n indices for each row. You take the inner product between the whole row vector with the whole column vector. Row i of A times column j of B creates the element ij of the new matrix. The first element in row i times the first element in column j plus the second element in row i times the second element in column j etc.
 

1. What is the cross product of a row and column vector?

The cross product of a row and column vector is a vector that is perpendicular to both of the original vectors. It is calculated by taking the determinant of a 3x3 matrix, with the first row being the unit vectors i, j, and k, the second row being the components of the row vector, and the third row being the components of the column vector.

2. How is the cross product different from the dot product?

The cross product and dot product are two different ways of combining two vectors. While the dot product results in a scalar value, the cross product results in a vector. The dot product measures the similarity between two vectors, while the cross product measures the perpendicularity between two vectors.

3. What is the geometric interpretation of the cross product?

The cross product has a geometric interpretation as the area of a parallelogram formed by the two original vectors. The direction of the cross product vector is perpendicular to the plane of the parallelogram, and the magnitude is equal to the area of the parallelogram.

4. Can the cross product be calculated for vectors with more or less than three dimensions?

No, the cross product is only defined for vectors in three-dimensional space. This is because the determinant of a 3x3 matrix is used in the calculation, and determinants are only defined for square matrices.

5. In what situations is the cross product used?

The cross product is commonly used in physics and engineering to calculate torque, angular momentum, and magnetic fields. It is also used in computer graphics to determine the orientation of 3D objects and to calculate lighting and shading effects.

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