Math 15 | Calculus III

Dot Product
 Definition 1. Dot Product
The dot product (or inner product or scalar product) of two vectors
𝐀 and 𝐁, denoted by 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 is defined as follows:
(i) If 𝐀 = 𝑎1 , 𝑎2 and 𝐁 = 𝑏1 , 𝑏2 are two vectors in 𝑉2
𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 𝑎1 𝑏1 + 𝑎2 𝑏2
(ii) If 𝐀 = 𝑎1 , 𝑎2 , 𝑎3 and 𝐁 = 𝑏1 , 𝑏2 , 𝑏3 are two vectors in 𝑉3
𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 𝑎1 𝑏1 + 𝑎2 𝑏2 + 𝑎3 𝑏3

Illustration 1.
If 𝐀 = 2, −3 and 𝐁 = −12, 4 , then
𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 2, −3 ∙ −12, 4
= 2 −12 + −3 4
= −13

. Illustration 2.
.
If 𝐀 = 4,2, −6 and 𝐁 = −5, 3, −2 , then
. 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 4,2, −6 ∙ −5, 3, −2
= 4 −5 + 2 3 + (−6)(−2)
.
= −2
.

.
 Theorem 2
If 𝐀, 𝐁 and 𝐂 are any vectors in 𝑉2 or 𝑉3 , then
(i) 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 𝐁 ∙ 𝐀 (commutative law)
(ii) 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 + 𝐂 = 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 + 𝐀 ∙ C (distributive law)

Theorem 3
If 𝐀, and 𝐁 are any vectors in 𝑉2 or 𝑉3 , and 𝑐 is any scalar, then
(i) 𝑐 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 𝑐𝐀 ∙ 𝐁
.
(ii) 𝟎 ∙ 𝐀 = 0
(iii) 𝐀 ∙ 𝐀 = 𝐀 𝟐
.

.
 Definition 4. Angle Between Two Vectors
Let 𝐀 and 𝐁 be two nonzero vectors.
(i) If 𝐀 is not a scalar multiple of 𝐁 and if 𝑂𝑃 is the position representation of 𝐀 and 𝑂𝑄 is the
position representation of 𝐁, then the angle between the vectors 𝐀 and 𝐁 is the angle of positive
measure between 𝑂𝑃 and 𝑂𝑄 interior to the triangle determined by the points 𝑂, 𝑃 and 𝑄.
(ii) If 𝐀 = c𝐁, where 𝑐 is a scalar, then if 𝑐 > 0 the angle between the vectors has radian measure 0;
if 𝑐 < 0, the angle between the vectors has radian measure 𝜋.

From the definition, if 𝜃 is the radian measure of the angle

between two vectors, then 0 ≤ 𝜃 ≤ 𝜋.

Figure 1 shows the angle 𝜃 between the vectors 𝐴 and 𝐵

.
(where 𝐴 is not scalar multiple of 𝐵) in 𝑉2 , and Figure 2 shows
. the angle when the vectors are in 𝑉3 .
.

.
 Theorem 5
If 𝜃 is the angle between the two nonzero vectors 𝐀 and 𝐁, then
𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 𝐀 𝐁 cos𝜃

Example 1
Given the vectors
𝐀 = 6𝐢 − 3𝐣 + 2𝐤 and 𝐁 = 2𝐢 + 𝐣 − 3𝐤
find cos 𝜃 if 𝜃 is the angle between 𝐀 and 𝐁.

Solution
We first compute 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁, 𝐀 and 𝐁 .

𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 𝟔, −𝟑, 𝟐 ∙ 𝟐, 𝟏, −𝟑
= 𝟔 𝟐 + −𝟑 𝟏 + 𝟐 −𝟑
=𝟑
. 𝐀 = 𝟑𝟔 + 𝟗 + 𝟒 = 𝟒𝟗 = 7
. 𝐁 = 𝟒 + 𝟏 + 𝟗 = 𝟏𝟒
.
From Theorem 5,
. 𝐀∙𝐁 3
.
cos 𝜃 = =
𝐀 𝐁 7 14
.
 Definition 6. Parallel Vectors
Two vectors are said to be parallel if and only if one of the vectors is a scalar multiple of the other.

Illustration 3
3 3
The vectors 3, −4,8 and , −1,2 are parallel because 3, −4,8 = 4 , −1,2 .
4 4

. Note
. If 𝐀 is any vector, 𝟎 = 0𝐀; thus from Definition 6, the zero vector is parallel to any vector.
.

.
 Definition 7. Orthogonal Vectors
Two vectors 𝐀 and 𝐁 are said to be orthogonal (perpendicular) if and only if 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 0.

Illustration 4
The vectors −4, 5, 0 and 10, 8, 3 are orthogonal because
−4, 5, 0 ∙ 10, 8, 3 = −4 10 + 5 8 + 0 3 = 0

Note
. If 𝐀 is any vector, 𝟎 ∙ 𝐀 = 0; and therefore the zero vector is orthogonal to any vector.
.

.
 Example 2
Given 𝐀 = 3𝐢 + 2𝐣 and 𝐁 = 2𝐢 + 𝑘𝐣, where 𝑘 is a scalar, find (a) 𝑘 such that 𝐀 and 𝐁 are orthogonal; (b)
𝑘 such that 𝐀 and 𝐁 are parallel.

Solution:
(a) By Definition 7, 𝐀 and 𝐁 are orthogonal if and only if 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 0; that is,
3 2 +2 𝑘 =0
𝑘 = −3

(a) From Definition 6, 𝐀 and 𝐁 are parallel if and only if there is some scalar 𝑐 such that 3,2 = 𝑐 2, 𝑘 ;
that is,
3 = 2𝑐 and 2 = 𝑐𝑘
.
4
. Solving these two equations simultaneously we obtain 𝑘 = .
3
.

.
 Example 3
Prove by using vectors that the points 𝐴 4, 9, 1 , 𝐵 −2, 6, 3 and 𝐶(6, 3, −2) are the vertices of a right
triangle.

Solution:
Triangle CAB appears in Figure 4. From the figure it looks as if the
angle at 𝐴 is the one that may be a right angle. We shall find 𝐕 𝐴𝐵
and 𝐕 𝐴𝐶 and if the dot product of these two vectors is zero, the
angle is a right angle.

𝐕 𝐴𝐵 = −2 − 4, 6 − 9, 3 − 1 𝐕 𝐴𝐶 = −2 − 4, 6 − 9, 3 − 1
= −6, −3, 2 = 2, −6, −3

𝐕 𝐴𝐵 ∙ 𝐕 𝐴𝐶 = −6, −3, 2 ∙ 2, −6, −3

= −12 + 18 − 6
. =0
.

.
Conclusion: 𝐕 𝐴𝐵 and 𝐕 𝐴𝐶 are orthogonal; thus the angle at 𝐴 in triangle 𝐶𝐴𝐵 is a right angle,
. and 𝐶𝐴𝐵 is a right triangle.
.

.
 Definition 8. Scalar Projection of One Vector onto Another
If 𝐴 and 𝐵 are nonzero vectors, the scalar projection of 𝐁 onto 𝐀 is defined to be 𝐁 cos 𝜃,
where 𝜃 is the angle between 𝐀 and 𝐁.

Theorem 9.
The scalar projection of the vector 𝐁 onto the vector 𝐀 is
𝐀∙𝐁
𝐀

Theorem 10.
.
The vector projection of the vector 𝐁 onto the vector 𝐀 is
. 𝐀∙𝐁
𝐀
. 𝐀 2
.

.
 Illustration 5.
In Example 1, for the vectors
𝐀 = 6𝐢 − 3𝐣 + 2𝐤 and 𝐁 = 2𝐢 + 𝐣 − 3𝐤
we computed 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = 𝟑 and 𝐵 = 7.

The component of 𝐁 in the direction of 𝐀 is the scalar projection of 𝐁 onto 𝐀, which from
Theorem 9 is
𝐀∙𝐁 3
=
𝐀 7

From Theorem 10, the vector projection of 𝐵 onto 𝐴 is

𝐀∙𝐁 3
𝐀 = 6𝐢 − 3𝐣 + 2𝐤
. 𝐀 2 72
.
18 9 6
= 𝐢− 𝐣+ 𝐤
. 49 49 49

.
 Example 4.
Given the vectors
𝐀 = −𝟓𝐢 + 𝐣 and 𝐁 = 𝟒𝐢 + 𝟐𝐣
Find:
(a) The scalar projection of 𝐁 onto 𝐀;
(b) The vector projection of 𝐁 onto 𝐀;
(c) Show on a figure the position representations of 𝐀, 𝐁, and the vector projection of 𝐁 onto 𝐀

Solution: We first compute 𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 and 𝐀 .

𝐀 ∙ 𝐁 = −5, 1 ∙ 4, 2 𝐀 = −5 2 + 12
= −20 + 2 = 26
= 18
(a) From Theorem 9, the scalar projection of 𝐁 (c) Figure 7 shows the position
onto 𝐀 is representations of 𝐀, 𝐁 and 𝐂,
𝐀∙𝐁 18 where 𝐂 is the vector projection
=−
𝐀 26 of 𝐁 onto 𝐀.

. (b) From Theorem 10, the vector

. projection of 𝐵 onto 𝐴 is
𝐀∙𝐁 18
. 𝐀 = − −5𝐢 + 𝐣
𝐀 𝟐 26
.
9
=− −5𝐢 + 𝐣
13
. 45 9
= 𝐢− 𝐣
. 13 13
 Example 5.
Find the distance from the point 𝑃 4, 1, 6 to the line through the points 𝐴(8, 3, 2) and 𝐵 2, −3, 5 .

Solution:
Figure 8 shows the point 𝑃 and the line through 𝐴 and 𝐵. The point 𝑀 is the foot of
the perpendicular line from 𝑃 to the line through 𝐴 and 𝐵. Let 𝑑 units be the
distance 𝑃𝑀 . Thus from the Pythagorean Theorem,
𝑑 = 𝐴𝑃 2 − 𝐴𝑀 2 (4)

To apply (4), compute 𝐴𝑃 , which is the magnitude of 𝐕 𝐴𝑃 , and 𝐴𝑀 , which is

the scalar projection of 𝐕 𝐴𝑃 onto 𝐕 𝐴𝐵 . We first find 𝐕 𝐴𝑃 and 𝐕 𝐴𝐵 .
𝐕 𝐴𝑃 = 4 − 8, 1 − 3, 6 − 2 𝐕 𝐴𝐵 = 2 − 8, −3 − 3, 5 − 2
= −4, −2, 4 = −6, −6, 3

We compute 𝐴𝑃 by finding 𝐕 𝐴𝑃 , and we compute 𝐴𝑀 by Theorem 10.9 with 𝐀 = 𝐕 𝐴𝐵 and 𝐁 = 𝐕 𝐴𝑃 .

𝐴𝑃 = 𝐕 𝐴𝑃
𝐕 𝐴𝐵 ∙ 𝐕 𝐴𝑃 −6, −6, 3 ∙ −4, −2, 4 24 + 12 + 12 48
. = −4 2 + −2 2 +4 𝐴𝑀 = = = =
𝐕 𝐴𝐵 −6 2 + −6 2 + 32 81 9
. = 36
=6
.

.
Substituting these values of 𝐴𝑃 and 𝐴𝑀 in (4), we get
2
. 48 2
𝑑= 62 − = 17
. 9 3