A-Level Maths Unit 3: Further Vectors winstanley

college

3. Further Vectors
F0 Introduction to 3D vectors and position vectors. Magnitude. Parallel vectors.
Arithmetic with vectors.

3.1 Vectors and Position Vectors

To move from the point C to the point D, we

need to translate 3 units in the positive x
D direction and 1 unit in the positive y direction.

This translation from C to D is called a

 3
C vector, and we write CD =   .
1
P
 
Similarly, OP =   .
 
O
It can be seen that OP = CD . There are in
fact quite a large number of ways of drawing
 3
the vector   .
1
Sometimes, vectors are represented by a single letter, which will be shown bold in any
printed material, or which you will underline when written by hand.

⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ is represented by a (written a) then a =   .

3
So, in the above diagram, if 𝑪𝑫 1
 
 3
𝑶𝑷=   .
In the diagram, the co-ordinates of the point P are (3, 1), and the vector ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
1
The vector ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑶𝑷 is called the position vector of P.(Denoted also p)

Note that a position vector always "starts" from the origin O, and in general, the point
𝒙
P (x, y) will have position vector ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑶𝑷= (𝒚)

3.2 Coordinates and vectors in three dimensions

To cope with the third dimension we add a third axis (the z axis) which is at right angles to
the xy plane. Then a point in three dimensions has co-ordinates of the form (x, y, z), and a
 x
 
three dimensional vector has three components, and is of the form  y  .
z
 

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 A-Level Maths Unit 3: Further Vectors winstanley
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For example, the diagram shows

z axis P(1, 2, 3) the point P (1, 2, 3), which is 1
unit in the positive x direction, 2 in
the positive y direction and 3 in
the positive z direction.
y axis
The position vector of P is then
𝟏
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ = (𝟐).
𝑶𝑷
𝟑
O x axis

Note that, in the same way as seen above for two dimensional vectors, a position vector
always "starts" from the origin O, and in general, the point P (x, y, z) will have position
𝒙
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
vector 𝑶𝑷= (𝒚)
𝒛

3.3 Magnitude of a vector

The diagram shows the two dimensional vector

 x
  .
 y

P  x
The length of the vector   is called its
 y
 x
magnitude or modulus, and is denoted by   .
 y

In the diagram, the distance OA = ____, and the

O A distance AP = ______.

Hence, by Pythagoras, (OP ) 2 = x 2 + y 2 so that the modulus of OP is given by

 x
  = x 2 + y 2 .
 y

This extends to three dimensions, and it may be shown that

 x
 
 y = x2 + y2 + z2
z
 

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 A-Level Maths Unit 3: Further Vectors winstanley
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3.4 Alternative vector notation

 x
 
Sometimes, the vector  y  is written as xi + yj +zk (or in printed material as xi + yj + zk ).
z
 
i,j,k are unit vectors (vectors of length 1) in the directions of the x,y,z axes respectively.

Example
 − 2
 3   
Find the modulus of each of these vectors (a)   (b)  4  (c) 2i − 4k
 − 2  −1
 

3.5 Using position vectors to find the distance between two points
B
The diagram shows the point A (3, 1), which
has position vector denoted by a, and the
point B (2, 5) with position vector b.

b    
So a =   and b =   .
   

Reading from the diagram, we see that the

A  
vector AB has the value   .
a
 
O
     
It can be seen that   =   -   , and
     
this leads to the general result that

Given two points A and B with position vectors a and b, then the vector from
A to B is given by AB = b - a

Then to find the distance AB, find the modulus of AB

Example Find the distance between these pairs of points

(a) (2, -5, -1) and (0, -3, 2) (b) (-3, 0, 3) and (-3, 1, 2)

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 A-Level Maths Unit 3: Further Vectors winstanley
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Parallel vectors

if the vector a is multiplied by m, then the vector ma is parallel to the vector a, and its
magnitude is m times that of a. (If m < 0, the magnitude is actually │m│ times that of a.)

This also enables us to test whether two vectors are parallel, as follows:

if vector a is a multiple of vector b, then a and b are parallel.

3.6 Arithmetic with vectors

Vectors may be added together and subtracted by adding and subtracting the
corresponding components. They may be multiplied by a scalar, in which case each
component is multiplied by this amount.

1  −3   2
     
Example If a =  3  , b =  −4  and c =  1  , find the following;
 2  3  −5 
     

(a) a + 2b (b) c − 3b (c) a (d) a + b

(e) Show that a + b is parallel to c (f) Find the distance between the points whose position
vectors are b and c

Exercise 1

1.If the points A, B and C have position vectors a = 2i + 3 j + 4k , b = 4i − 3 j + 7k and

c = −4i + 5 j − 6k find:

(a) AB (b) the distance BC (c) OA + AB (d) Comment on your answer to (c).

 2  5   3  0
2. The position vectors of four points A, B, C and D are   ,   ,   and  
6  2   −5   −1 
Find the vectors AB and CD . Hence comment on the quadrilateral ABCD.

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 A-Level Maths Unit 3: Further Vectors winstanley
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F1 Introduction to 3D vectors, understand and use the vector and Cartesian forms
of an equation of a straight line in 3D

3.7 Vector equation of a straight line

The diagram shows a straight line passing

P through a fixed point A (with position vector p).
The vector d is a vector in the direction of the
line.
d r
A
P is a variable point, which can be anywhere
on the line, and the position vector of P is r.

p Whatever the position of P, ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗

𝑂𝑃=𝑂𝐴 ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ + ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐴𝑃
O
But ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐴𝑃 = a multiple of d, so

⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑂𝑃=𝑂𝐴 ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ + ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐴𝑃=𝑂𝐴 ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ + a multiple of d

⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ = 𝑝, and if the "multiple" is denoted by  , we get

⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ = 𝑟 and 𝑂𝐴
Also, 𝑂𝑃

r = p + d

This is the vector equation of a straight line.

p is the position vector of a fixed point on the line.

d is a vector in the direction of the line.

To illustrate how the above works in practice, we will look first at an example of a line in
is a scalar variable.
two dimensional space.

Example r is the variable position vector of any point on the line.

 3 2
A line has vector equation r =   +    .
 3  − 1

(a) Write down a vector in the direction of the line, and the position vector of a fixed point
on the line.
(b) Find the values of r when  = -2, -1, 0, 1. Draw these vectors on a suitable pair of
axes, together with the line.

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Exercise 2
1.Find the position vector of a fixed point on each of these lines, and also find the direction
vector of each line.

 3−t   0 
   
(a) r =  1  (b) r = i + (1 −  )k (c) r =  − t + 1 (d) r = (1 +  )i − 2 j + (1 + 2 )k
 4 + 2t   3 
   

2.(a) Find a vector equation of the line L which passes through A(2, -3, 3) and B(0, -4, 1).

(b) Determine whether either of the points C(4, 11, -3) and D(6, -1, 7) lies on L.

Cartesian form
𝑥 𝑝1 𝑑
If 𝑟= (𝑦), 𝑝= (𝑝 ), 𝑑= ( 1 ),
2 𝑑2

r = p +  d =(𝑝𝑝1 ) + 𝜆 (𝑑1 ),
2 𝑑2
𝑥 𝑝1 𝜆𝑑
Then (𝑦)=(𝑝 ) + ( 1 ) and the parametric equation of a straight line in 2D is
2 𝜆𝑑 2

𝑥 = 𝑝1 + 𝜆𝑑1

𝑦 = 𝑝2 + 𝜆𝑑2

Eliminating 𝜆 from both equations we obtain the Cartesian equation (no parameter) of the
line
𝑥−𝑝1 𝑦−𝑝2
=
𝑑1 𝑑2

In 3D, by adding the 3rd coordinate z we will find analogous Parametric and Cartesian
(without parameter) equations of the line:

𝑥 = 𝑝1 + 𝜆𝑑1

𝑦 = 𝑝2 + 𝜆𝑑2

𝑧 = 𝑝3 + 𝜆𝑑3
𝑥 − 𝑝1 𝑦 − 𝑝2 𝑧 − 𝑝3
= =
𝑑1 𝑑2 𝑑3

Exercise 3: Find the Cartesian equations of all the lines in Exercise 2.

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Exercise 4

1.Find the Cartesian equation of the line PQ where P and Q have coordinates (1, 3, 5) and

(–1, 0, 4) respectively.

2.

3.

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