- #1
Von Neumann
- 101
- 4
Problem:
In Kleppner's book, Introduction to Mechanics, he states
"By writing [itex]\vec{A}[/itex] and [itex]\vec{B}[/itex] as the sums of vectors along each of the coordinate axes, you can verify that [itex]\vec{A} \cdot \vec{B} = A_{x}B_{x} + A_{y}B_{y} + A_{z}B_{z}[/itex]."
He suggests summing vectors, but since the sum of two vectors vectors [itex]\vec{A}[/itex] and [itex]\vec{B}[/itex] is a new vector [itex]\vec{C}[/itex], I don't understand how the result could be a scalar. Am I missing something?
When I was introduced to the dot product in Stewart's Calculus, he presents it as definition.
In Kleppner's book, Introduction to Mechanics, he states
"By writing [itex]\vec{A}[/itex] and [itex]\vec{B}[/itex] as the sums of vectors along each of the coordinate axes, you can verify that [itex]\vec{A} \cdot \vec{B} = A_{x}B_{x} + A_{y}B_{y} + A_{z}B_{z}[/itex]."
He suggests summing vectors, but since the sum of two vectors vectors [itex]\vec{A}[/itex] and [itex]\vec{B}[/itex] is a new vector [itex]\vec{C}[/itex], I don't understand how the result could be a scalar. Am I missing something?
When I was introduced to the dot product in Stewart's Calculus, he presents it as definition.