Math 251, Week 1

1 Instructions
The Examples below will be solved in class. The Exercises listed across the lecture are a good companion
for the lectures (along with the Suggested Homeworks), but they won’t be done in class. You are very
encouraged to solve them as well. The sketches of graphs will be given in class.

2 Section 12.4: Cross products

The cross product a × b of two vectors a and b is a vector, unlike the dot product, which is a scalar. We
will see later that a × b is useful because it is perpendicular to both a and b.

We can find a × b in component form by using the fact that a × b is perpendicular to both a and b, along
with the vector distributive laws (see page 816 in the textbook for a proof).

a × b = ha2 b3 − a3 b2 , a3 b1 − a1 b3 , a1 b2 − a2 b1 i
In order to make this expression for a × b easier to remember, we will use the notation of determinants. A
determinant of order 2 is defined by
 
 a b 
 c d  = ad − bc
 

A determinant of order 3 is defined by

 
 a1 a2 a3       
 b b3   b b3   b b2 
b2 b3  = a1  2 − a2  1 + a3  1

 b1 

 c1 c2 c3  c1 c3  c1 c2 
c2 c3 
Thus, if we make the first row i, j, and k, the second row a, and the third row b,
 
 i j k       
 a1 a2 a3  = i  a2 a3  − j  a1 a3  + k  a1 a2 
      
   b2 b3   b1 b3   b1 b2 
 b1 b2 b3 

= ha2 b3 − a3 b2 , a3 b1 − a1 b3 , a1 b2 − a2 b1 i

1
Example 2.1. Find the cross product of h1, 1, 3i and h−2, −1, −5i.
 
 i j k 

 1 1 3 

 −2 −1 −5 
     
 1 3   1 3   1 1 
Answer: This determinant is i ·  − j ·  + k ·  = i · (−5 + 3) − j(−5 + 6) +
−1 −5   −2 −5   −2 −1 
k(−1 + 2) = −2i − j + k.
Exercise 2.2. Find a unit vector perpendicular to both h1, 1, 3i and h−2, −1, −5i.
Answer: From the example above, we have that a = h−2, −1, 1i is a vector perpendicular p to both h1, 1, 3i √
and
h−2, −1, −5i, because h−2, −1, 1i is their cross product. Now, we have |a| = (−2)2 + (−1)2 + 12 = 6.
−2 √
Hence a unit vector perpendicular to the given vectors is √16 a = h √ 6
, −16 , √16 i.

Example 2.3. Find a vector perpendicular to the plane through the points P (2, 3, 5), Q(−1, 3, 4) and
R(3, 0, 6).
−−→ −→
Answer: Take the vectors P Q = h−1 − 2, 3 − 3, 4 − 5i = h−3, 0, −1i and P R = h3 − 2, 0 − 3, 6 − 4i = h1, −3, 2i
and compute their cross product.
Theorem 2.4. If θ is the angle between a and b, then |a × b| = |a||b| sin(θ).
Corollary 2.5. Two non-zero vectors a and b are parallel if and only if |a × b| = 0.

Proof. Two non-zero vectors a and b are parallel if and only if the angle θ between them is a multiple
(including a zero multiple) of 180◦ . The sine of such an angle is zero. Hence the cross product of two parallel
vectors is zero.
Example 2.6. Determine if the vectors a = 2i + 6j − 4k and b = −3i − 9j + 6k are parallel.
(Recall that we can always find θ using the formula a · b = |a||b| cos(θ).)
Answer: Let us compute the cross product. We compute the determinant
 
 i j k 

 2
 6 −4 
 −3 −9 6 

This determinant is i(36 − 36) − j(12 − 12) + k(−18 + 18) = 0. Hence sin(θ) = 0, which means that the
vectors are parallel.
For an√alternative way, √ we have a · b√= 2 · (−3) + 6 · (−9) − 4 · 6 = −84. On the other hand,
√using the remark,
|a| = 4 + 36 + 16 = 56 and |b| = 9 + 81 + 36 = 126. Hence we obtain cos(θ) = −1 and so θ = 180◦ .
In particular, the vectors are parallel.

Theorem 2.7. The length of the cross product a × b is equal to the area of the parallelogram determined by
a and b.

Example 2.8. Find the area of the triangle determined by the points P (1, 0, 0), Q(0, 2, 0) and R(0, 0, 3).

2
 −−→ −→
Answer: Let us compute the cross product of the vectors P Q = h−1, 2, 0i and P R = h−1, 0, 3i. This is
given by the determinant  
 i j k 

 −1 2 0  .

 −1 0 3 
√
This determinant is i · (6 − 0) − j · (−3) + k(2) = 6i + 3j + 2k. The length of this vector is 62 + 32 + 22 =
√ √ −−→ −→
36 + 9 + 4 = 49 = 7. This is the area of the parallelogram determined by P Q and P R. The area of the
triangle is half of it: 72 .

Exercise 2.9. Determine whether each expression is meaningful or meaningless (circle one). If so, state
whether the expression is a vector or a scalar.
(i) a · b meaningful (vector or scalar) meaningless

(ii) a × b meaningful (vector or scalar) meaningless

(iii) a · (b × c) meaningful (vector or scalar) meaningless

(iv) a × (b × c) meaningful (vector or scalar) meaningless

(v) (a · b) × (c · d) meaningful (vector or scalar) meaningless

(vi) (a × b) · (c × d) meaningful (vector or scalar) meaningless

(vii) a × (b · c) meaningful (vector or scalar) meaningless

(viii) |a|(b × c) meaningful (vector or scalar) meaningless

Answer: (i) is the dot product of two vectors and hence it is a scalar. (ii) is the cross product between
two vectors and hence it is a vector. (iii) b × c is a vector and we have the dot product between two vectors,
hence the result is a scalar. (iv) is the cross product between two vectors. (v) is meaningless. (vi) is the dot
product of two vectors. (viii) is meaningless. (viii) is the multiplication of a vector by a scalar (the length of
the vector a).