Find area of parallelogram given vertices

In summary: It's clear from the work you say you did that you used the correct vectors. However, you are finding the magnitude of the vector cross product ## \left|A \times B \right| ##, not the area. This is given by ## A \times B = \left|A \right| \left|B \right| \sin \theta \hat{n} ##. The area is the magnitude of this vector, ## \left|A \times B \right| ##.
  • #1
Zashmar
48
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Homework Statement


Find the are of the parallelogram ABCD where A is (1,2,-3), B is (-1,3,-4) and D is (1,5,-2)

Homework Equations


Area=[itex]\left|AxB\right|[/itex]
where A and B are the vectors AD, and AB respectively.

The Attempt at a Solution


I have calculated AD to be= (0,-3,-1)
and AB=(2,-1,1)

∴ to find [itex]\left|AxB\right|[/itex] I subbed the two vectors into a 3x3 matrix. Finding the magnitude of th result, I calculated the area to be 2x[itex]\sqrt{11}[/itex]. The Anser is 2x[itex]\sqrt{14}[/itex]. What have I done wrong?
 
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  • #2
Zashmar said:

Homework Statement


Find the are of the parallelogram ABCD where A is (1,2,-3), B is (-1,3,-4) and D is (1,5,-2)

Homework Equations


Area=[itex]\left|AxB\right|[/itex]
where A and B are the vectors AD, and AB respectively.

The Attempt at a Solution


I have calculated AD to be= (0,-3,-1)
and AB=(2,-1,1)

∴ to find [itex]\left|AxB\right|[/itex] I subbed the two vectors into a 3x3 matrix. Finding the magnitude of th result, I calculated the area to be 2x[itex]\sqrt{11}[/itex]. The Anser is 2x[itex]\sqrt{14}[/itex]. What have I done wrong?
You likely made an error in finding the vector product [itex]\vec{A}\times \vec{B}[/itex].

BTW: Use " \times " for ## \times\ ## .
 
  • #3
Well I will show you how i did it because I cannot find an error:

i j k
0-3 1
2-1 1
^that is a matrix

So i got:
-2i+2j+6k

=Sqrt 44
=2 sqrt 11
 
  • #4
Zashmar said:
Well I will show you how i did it because I cannot find an error:

i j k
0-3 1
2-1 1
^that is a matrix
Shouldn't the second row of your matrix be ##(0, -3, -1)## instead of ##(0, -3, 1)##?
 
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  • #5
Zashmar said:

Homework Statement


Find the are of the parallelogram ABCD where A is (1,2,-3), B is (-1,3,-4) and D is (1,5,-2)


Homework Equations


Area=[itex]\left|AxB\right|[/itex]
where A and B are the vectors AD, and AB respectively.


The Attempt at a Solution


I have calculated AD to be= (0,-3,-1)
and AB=(2,-1,1)
The first vector is actually DA, and the second is BA.
AD is -(DA) = <0, 3, 1>
and AB = -(BA) = <-2, 1, -1>.
Zashmar said:
∴ to find [itex]\left|AxB\right|[/itex] I subbed the two vectors into a 3x3 matrix. Finding the magnitude of th result, I calculated the area to be 2x[itex]\sqrt{11}[/itex]. The Anser is 2x[itex]\sqrt{14}[/itex]. What have I done wrong?
 
  • #6
Zashmar said:
Well I will show you how i did it because I cannot find an error:

i j k
0-3 1
2-1 1
^that is a matrix
The vectors you have in the OP will work. (They both have the sign error Mark pointed out.) .. but they will give ## 2 \, \sqrt{14} \ ## .
 
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