Republic of the Philippines

NUEVA VIZCAYA STATE UNIVERSITY

Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE
IM No.: MECH1A -1S-2020-2021

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Bayombong Campus

DEGREE PROGRAM BSCE COURSE NO. N145/N155/N165/N177

SPECIALIZATION CEM/SE/TE/WRE COURSE TITLE Statics of Rigid Bodies
YEAR LEVEL 2nd TIME FRAME 2 WK NO. 2 IM NO. 2

I. UNIT TITLE/CHAPTER TITLE

Introduction to Engineering Mechanics

II. LESSON TITLE

4. Vector Multiplication

III. LESSON OVERVIEW

4. Vector Multiplication
- Dot Product
- Cross Product

IV. DESIRED LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. To understand Vector Multiplication and its application.

V. LESSON CONTENT

Vector Multiplication

1. Dot (scalar) product

The figure shows two vectors A and B, with θ being the angle between their
positive directions. The dot product of A and B is defined as:

A·B=ABcosθ (0≤ θ ≤180◦)

Because the dot product is a scalar, it is also called the scalar product. Note that
the dot product is positive if θ<90◦, negative if θ>90◦, and zero if θ =90◦. The
following two properties of the dot product follow from its definition in the
equation.

• The dot product is commutative: A·B = B·A

• The dot product is distributive: A·(B+C) = A·B+A·C

*Note that division by a vector, such as 1/A or B/A, is not defined.

From the definition of the dot product, we also note that the base vectors of a rectangular coordinate
system satisfy the following identities:
i· i = j·j = k·k = 1
i·j = j·k = k·i =0

When A and B are expressed in rectangular form, their dot product becomes

A·B = (Axi+ Ayj+ Azk) · (Bxi+ Byj+ Bzk)

NVSU-FR-ICD-05-00 (081220) Page 1 of 3

 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVA VIZCAYA STATE UNIVERSITY
Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE
IM No.: MECH1A -1S-2020-2021
which, using the distributive property of the dot product, reduces to:

A·B = Ax Bx + AyBy + AzBz

The equation is a powerful and relatively simple method for computing the dot product of two vectors that
are given in rectangular form. The following are two of the more important applications of the dot product.

Finding the Angle Between Two Vectors

The angle θ between the two vectors A and B in the figure can be found
from the definition of the dot product in A·B= AB cosθ, which can be rewritten
as:
(𝑨 ∙ 𝑩) 𝑨 𝑩
cos 𝜃 = = ∙
𝐴𝐵 𝐴 𝐵

Letting 𝜆𝐴 = 𝑨 ∕ 𝐴 and 𝜆𝐵 = 𝑩 ∕ 𝐵 be the unit vectors that have the same

directions as A and B, as shown in the figure. The last equation becomes:
cos 𝜃 = 𝝀𝑨 ⋅ 𝝀𝑩

2. Cross Product
The cross-product C of two vectors A and B, denoted by:

C=AxB
Has the following characteristics:

• The magnitude of C is
C =AB sin θ
where θ (0≤ θ ≤180◦) is the angle between the positive directions of A and B.
(Note that C is always a positive number.)
• C is perpendicular to both A and B.
• The sense of C is determined by the right-hand rule, which states that when
the fingers of your right hand are curled in the direction of the angle θ (directed
from A toward B), your thumb points in the direction of C.

The cross product of two vectors is also called their vector product. It can be shown that the cross product
is distributive; that is,
A×(B+C) = (A×B) + (A×C)
However, the cross product is neither associative nor commutative. In other words,
A×(B×C) ≠ (A×B)×C
A×B ≠ B×A

VI. LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Watch the following links for examples:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui-Pc7-wFko
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWbOisq1MJU
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPnWm-IXoAY
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hho9a0_y7KY

VII. ASSIGNMENT
1. Given the following vectors:
A = 8i + 4j -2k N
B = 2j + 6k m
C = 3i – 2j + 4k m

Find the following:

a. A∙B
b. Angle between A and C
c. A x B
d. Unit vector of A x B
e. A x B∙C

NVSU-FR-ICD-05-00 (081220) Page 2 of 3

 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVA VIZCAYA STATE UNIVERSITY
Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE
IM No.: MECH1A -1S-2020-2021
2. Compute the dot and cross product A and B. Identify the units of each product.
a. A = 6j + 9k m B = 7i -3j + 2k m
b. A = 2i + 3j m B = 6i – 13k N
c. A = 5i – 6j - k m B = -5i +8j + 6k m

VIII. REFERENCES

1. Singer, Ferdinand L., Engineering Mechanics: Statics and Dynamics.

2. Beer, Ferdinand P. and Johnson, E. Russel Jr., Mechanics for Engineers.
3. Hibbeler R.C., Engineering Mechanics: Statics
4. Pytel, Andrew and Kiusalaas, Jaan, Understanding Engineering Mechanics: Statics.

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