Lecture 3 Dot product We define the dot product (or scalar product) between two vectors A = Aji + Azj + Ask and B= Bri + Baj + Bak as A-B = A,Bi + A2Ba + AsBa. One can prove that the dot product is commutative, distributive over addition, and associative with respect to scalar multiplication; that is, A-B=B-A, A(B+©)=A-B+A-C, A-(cB)= (cA) B=c(A-B) ‘A geometric interpretation of the dot product is also possible. Given any two vectors A and B, place the vectors tail-to-tail, and impose a coordinate system with origin at the tails such that A is parallel to the x-axis and B lies in the x-y plane, as shown in the figure. The angle between the two vectors is denoted as 6. Then in this coordinate system, A — |Ali, B= |B|coséé + |B] sin@j, and A-B=|A|Blcosé, ‘a result independent of the choice of co- ordinate system. If A and B are paral- lel, then @ = O and A-B = |A)|B| and in particular, A- A = |A/?. If A and B are perpendicular, then @ = 7/2 and A-B=0.LECTURE 3. DOT PRODUCT Problems for Lecture 3 1. Using the definition of the dot product A- B = 1B, + ABy + AgBs, prove that 4) A-B=B-A; b) A-(B+C)=A-B+A-C; ¢) A: (kB) = (kA)-B=k(A-B). 2. Determine all the combinations of dot products between the standard unit vectors i, j, and k. 3. Let C = A~ B. Calculate the dot product of C with itself and thus derive the law of cosines.