VECTOR AND

SCALAR
DBM10013
ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS 1
IN THIS CHAPTER, YOU WILL LEARN
What is vector and
scalar

Magnitude vector and unit

vector

Operations on vectors

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 PHySICAL QUANTITIES

SCALAR VECTOR
Has magnitude only. Has magnitude and direction.
Eg. Distance, speed, mass, volume, Eg. Displacement, velocity, acceleration,
temperature, density and energy force, momentum and magnetic field

150 cm

37 °C 53 kg

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 Fundamental of vector
A
+ve
up O B
O
OA = OB

-ve left VECTOR right +ve

A
O B
O
OA = - OB down
-ve

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 Fundamental of vector

A vector The length of the line And it doesn't matter

has magnitude (size) shows its magnitude which order we add
and direction: and the arrowhead them, we get the
points in the same result
direction.We can add
two vectors by joining
them head-to-tail:

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 NOTATION OF VECTOR

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𝐴 , 𝐴Ԧ , 𝑂𝐴 = 2𝑖 − 4𝑖, , 2, −4
−4
Cartesian
Notation Matrix
Notation Coordinate
Notation

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 UNIT OF VECTOR 𝒂
ෝ
2 Dimension 3 Dimension

𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒, 𝑎 = 𝑥2 + 𝑦2 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑎 = 𝑥 2 + 𝑦2 + 𝑧2

𝑽𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓
Unit vector =
𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑽𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓
𝑎Ԧ
𝑎ො =
𝑎
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EXAMPLE
Find the unit vector of 𝑃 and 𝑄
i. 𝑄 = −𝑖 + 5𝑗 ii. 𝑃 = 3𝑖 − 2𝑗 + 4k

Solution Solution

Magnitude 𝑄 = (−1)2 +52 = 26 Magnitude 𝑃Ԧ = 32 + (−2)2 +42 = 29

𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑄 𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑃Ԧ

𝑄 𝑃Ԧ
𝑄෠ = 𝑃෠ =
𝑄 𝑃
−1i 5j 3i 2j 4k
=
26
+
26
= − +
29 29 29

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ADDITION & SUBSTRACTION OF VECTOR

𝑨 − 𝑩 = 𝑨 + (−𝑩)

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 Subtraction of
Addition of vectors
vectors

c = a - b = a + (-b )

Operation on vectors
𝑎Ԧ + 𝑏 = 𝑏 + 𝑎Ԧ 𝑎Ԧ + (𝑏 + 𝑐)
Ԧ = (𝑎Ԧ + 𝑏) + 𝑐Ԧ 𝑚𝑎Ԧ + 𝑚𝑏 = m(𝑎Ԧ + 𝑏)

Commutative
Associative rule Distributive rule
rule

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EXAMPLE
𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝒘 = 𝟑𝒊 − 𝟐𝒋 + 𝟒𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒗 = −𝒊 + 𝟓𝒋

i. 𝑤 + v ii. v − w iii. −2w + 3v

Solution Solution Solution

= 3𝑖 − 2𝑗 + 4k + (−𝑖 + 5𝑗) = −𝑖 + 5𝑗 − (3𝑖 − 2𝑗 + 4k)
= −2 3𝑖 − 2𝑗 + 4k + 3 −𝑖 + 5𝑗
= 3𝑖 − 𝑖 − 2𝑗 + 5𝑗 + 4k = −𝑖 − 3𝑖 + 5𝑗 + 2𝑗 − 4k = −6𝑖 + 4𝑗 − 8𝑘 − 3𝑖 + 15𝑗
= 𝟐𝒊 + 𝟑𝒋 + 𝟒𝐤 = −𝟒𝒊 + 𝟕𝒋 − 𝟒𝐤 = −𝟗𝒊 + 𝟏𝟗𝒋 − 𝟖𝐤

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 REPRESENTATING A VECTOR AS A
COMBINATION OF OTHER VECTOR
EXAMPLE

Let triangle ABC have the following position

𝑂𝐴 = 2𝑖 + 3𝑗 − 𝑘
𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑨𝑩, 𝑨𝑪, 𝑩𝑪 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝑨
𝑂𝐵 = 𝑖 + 𝑗 + 𝑘
𝑂𝐶 = 𝑗 + 2𝑘

Solution 𝑖. 𝑨𝑩 = 𝑨𝑶 + 𝑶𝑩 𝑖𝑖. 𝑨𝑪 = 𝑨𝑶 + 𝑶𝑪
= −𝑂𝐴 + 𝑂𝐵 = −𝑂𝐴 + 𝑂𝐶
= − 2𝑖 + 3𝑗 − 𝑘 + 𝑖 + 𝑗 + 𝑘 = − 2𝑖 + 3𝑗 − 𝑘 + 𝑗 + 2𝑘
= −𝒊 − 𝟐𝒋 + 𝟐𝒌 = −𝟐𝒊 − 𝟐𝒋 + 𝟑𝒌

𝑖𝑖𝑖. 𝑩𝑪 = 𝑩𝑶 + 𝑶𝑪 𝑖𝑣. 𝑩𝑨 = 𝑩𝑶 + 𝑶𝑨
= −𝑂𝐵 + 𝑂𝐶 = −𝑂𝐵 + 𝑂A
= − 𝑖 + 𝑗 + 𝑘 + 𝑖 + 2𝑘 = − 𝑖 + 𝑗 + 𝑘 + 2𝑖 + 3𝑗 − 𝑘
= −𝒋 + 𝒌 = 𝒊 + 𝟐𝒋 − 𝟐𝒌
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EXAMPLE
The diagram shows the position of vector 𝑱𝑲 𝒂𝒏𝐝 𝑳𝑴 in
Cartesian plane.

Solution

𝑖. 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑱𝑲 = 𝑱𝑶 + 𝑶𝑲 𝑳𝑴 = 𝑳𝑶 + 𝑶𝑴 iii. Determine the unit vector of 𝐽𝐾

J
= −𝑂𝐽 + 𝑂𝐾 = −𝑂𝐿 + 𝑂𝑀
−3 2 −4 −2 Magnitude 𝐽𝐾 = 52 + (−3)2 = 34
=− + =− + M
4 1 1 2 L K
𝟓 𝟐
= =
−𝟑 𝟏 𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑄
𝐽𝐾
𝐽෢
𝐾=
𝑖𝑖. 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑳𝑴 − 𝑱𝑲 𝐽𝐾
𝟓𝐢 𝟑𝐣
𝟐 𝟓 = −
𝑳𝑴 − 𝑱𝑲 = − 𝟑𝟒 𝟑𝟒
𝟏 −𝟑
−𝟑
= 13
𝟒
EXERCISE 1
Let triangle ABC have the following position
𝑂𝐴 = −𝑖 + 10𝑘
𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑨𝑩, 𝑨𝑪, 𝑩𝑪 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝑨 𝑂𝐵 = 10𝑖 − 𝑗 + 𝑘
𝑂𝐶 = 9𝑖 + 5𝑗 + 3𝑘

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EXERCISE 2
The diagram shows the position of vector 𝑷𝑸 𝒂𝒏𝐝 𝑹𝑺 in
Cartesian plane.

𝑖. 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑖𝑖. 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑹𝑺 − 𝑷𝑸
iii. Determine the unit vector of 𝑅𝑆
P

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 references
✘ Jeffreys, H. and Jeffreys, B. S. "Direction Vectors." §2.034 in Methods
of Mathematical Physics, 3rd ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press, p. 64, 1988
✘ Engineering Mathematics, Arffaazila “Vector and Scalar.” p. 69-77,
2018

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