Resolving Vectors Using the Vector Triple Product

BobJimbo
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The problem:
By considering w x (p x w) resolve vector p into a component parallel to a given vector w and a component perpendicular to a given vector w.

Hint: a x (b x c) = b(a x c) - c(a x b)


I'm afraid I really have no idea where to go with this one. The hint leads to: p(w.w) - w(w.p) = |w^2|p - |w||p|cosΘ w
 
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Hint 1: How is the term ##|w|^2 \vec{p}## related to the vector ##\vec{p}##?
Hint 2: How is ##\vec{w}\times (\vec{p} \times \vec{w})## related to the vector ##\vec{w}##? For instance, is it parallel or it is perpendicular to ##\vec{w}##?
 
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Agh, so simple. Thanks! (For the solution and for how to write vectors)
 
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...
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