MATH 2010E ADVANCED CALCULUS I

LECTURE 2

12.4 Cross product

Given x = (x1 , x2 , x3 ) and y = (y1 , y2 , y3 ), the cross product is given by


 bi bj k
b


x y = x1 x2 x3  ,
 y1 y2 y3 
or


 


 x2 x3 
 x1 x3   x1 x2 
,
 

x y = 
 y1 y3  ,  y1 y2  .
y2 y3 
Warnings:
(1) Remember the negative sign in the second term.
(2) Unlike dot product, cross product is only defined for vectors in R3 . (If we want
to define something analogous in Rn , we need to take the product of n 1
vectors.)
(3) The cross product of two vectors in R3 produces a vector in R3 , instead of a real
number.
Example 1. If x = (1, 1, 2) and y = (1, 2, 1), then

 



 1 2  1 1
1 2 
 = (3, 3, 3).





,
,
xy = 
1 1 1 2
2 1
If x = j and y = i, then

 



0 0  0 1 
1 0 

 
,
j i = 
1 0 , 1 0 = (0, 0, 1) = k.
0 0
The geometric interpretation of cross product is given by the following theorem.
Theorem 2. If x and y are not scalar multiples of each other, then x y is the unique
vector in R3 such that
(a) x y is orthogonal to both x and y.
(b) The orientation of {x, y, x y} is right-handed.
(c) kx yk = kxkkyk| sin | is the area of the parallelogram spanned by x and y.
Lemma 3 (scalar triple product). Let x, y, z be

 x1

(x y) z =  y1
 z1
Date: Thursday, 16th May, 2015.
1

three vectors in R3 . Then


x2 x3 
y2 y3  .
z2 z3 

Proof.
 
 


 x2 x3   x3 x1   x1 x2 
 (z1 , z2 , z3 )





(x y) z = 
,
,
y2 y3   y3 y1   y1 y2 






 x2 x3 
 x1 x3 
 x1 x2 






= z1 
z2 
+ z3 
y2 y3 
y1 y3 
y1 y2 


 x1 x2 x3 


=  y1 y2 y3 
 z1 z2 z3 
by the expansion of the last row in the 3 3 determinant.

Proof of Theorem 2. (a) By Lemma 3,


 x1 x2 x3 


(x y) x =  y1 y2 y3  = 0.
 x1 x2 x3 
Similar proof works for (x y) y.
(c)





 
 x2 x3  2
 x1 x3  2  x1 x2  2
2






kx yk = 
+ 
+
y2 y3 
y1 y3 
y1 y2 
=x21 y22 + x21 y32 + x22 y12 + x22 y32 + x23 y12 + x23 y22 2x1 x2 y1 y2 2x2 x3 y2 y3 2x1 x3 y1 y3
=(x21 + x22 + x23 )(y12 + y22 + y32 ) (x1 y1 + x2 y2 + x3 y3 )2
=kxk2 kyk2 (x y)2
=kxk2 kyk2 (1 cos2 ) = kxk2 kyk2 sin2 .
(b) Recall that the orientation of the basis is decided by the sign of the determinant. By
Lemma 3,



 x1
x
x
2
3



 y1
y
y
2
3
2

 



x1 x3  x1 x2  = (x y) (x y) = kx yk .
  x2 x3 

 



 y 2 y 3   y 1 y 3   y 1 y 2 
As x and y are not scalar multiples of each other, x and y are not parallel, i.e. 6= 0 or
. Hence, kx yk2 = kxk2 kyk2 sin2 > 0.

The geometric interpretation of scalar triple product is given by the following theorem.
Theorem 4. Let x, y, z be three vectors in R3 . If x and y are not scalar multiples of
each other, then (x y) z is the (signed ) volume of the parallelopipe spanned by x, y, z.
Proof. (x y) z = kx ykkzk cos , where is the angle between x y and z. By
Theorem 2(c), we know that kx yk is the base area of the parallelopipe. By Theorem
2(a), xy is orthogonal to the base, so kzk cos is the (signed) height of the parallelopipe.


Corollary 5.


 x1 x2 x3 


 y1 y2 y3 


 z1 z2 z3 
is the (signed) volume of the parallelopipe spanned by (x1 , x2 , x3 ), (y1 , y2 , y3 ), and (z1 , z2 , z3 ).
Corollary 6. The nonzero vectors x and y in R3 are parallel to each other if and only
if x y = 0.
Here is a list of properties of cross product.
(1) (anti-commutative) x y = y x.
(2) (distributive) (x + y) z = x z + y z and x (y + z) = x y + x z.
(3) (commutative and associative with scalar multiplication)
(1 x) (2 y) = (1 2 )(x y).
(4) (vector triple product) x (y z) = (x z)y (x y)z.
Warning: From property (4), we know that cross product is not associative.
From property (4), we also obtain the following identity.
x (y z) + y (z x) + z (x y) = 0.
12.5 Lines and planes in R3
As mentioned in Section 12.1, we need a system of two equations to describe a (straight)
line in R3 , since one equation gives a 2-dimensional plane, and two equations give the
intersection of two planes, i.e. a line.
Here, we introduce another method to express a line algebraically. A line can be
determined by passing through a point p = (x0 , y0 , z0 ) and moving along a specific
direction v = (v1 , v2 , v3 ). Hence, we obtain a parametric form of a line
{p + tv : t R},
or
{(x0 + tv1 , y0 + tv2 , z0 + tv3 ) : t R},
where t is called the free parameter.
In parametric equations form,
x = x0 + tv1
y = y0 + tv2
z = z0 + tv3 .
If we make t the subject in every equation, we get
x x0
y y0
z z0
=
=
,
v1
v2
v3
which is called the symmetric form.
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Example 7. Let L be the line defined by

x 2y + z = 1
2x + y z = 0.
Find the parametric form of L.
Solution. Label the first equation by (1) and the second equation by (2). Then (2)(1)2
yields
5y 3z = 2,
or
3z 2
.
y=
5


3t 2
3t 2
Let z = t be a free parameter. Then y =
, and x 2
+ t = 1 implies
5
5
t+1
x=
. Hence, the parametric form of L is
5



t + 1 3t 2
,
,t : t R ,
5
5
or





1 3
1 2
, ,0 + t
, ,1 : t R .
5 5
5 5

The parametric form of a line has the benefit that it carries all important physical
information in one formula. More specifically, in
v
p + tv = p + tkvk
,
kvk
v
p represents the initial position, t denotes the time, kvk stands for the speed, and
kvk
gives the direction of the motion.
Example 8. Consider R3 . Find the perpendicular distance from the point x to the line
p + tv.
Solution. Let be the angle between x p and v. The desired perpendicular distance is
kx pkkvk| sin |
kx pk| sin | =
kvk




v
.
=
(x

p)

kvk

As mentioned in Section 12.3, a plane can be determined by passing through a point
b Any point x on the plane
p = (x0 , y0 , z0 ) and have a normal vector n = Abi + Bbj + C k.
has the property that


n x = n (x p) + p = n (x p) + n p = n p
since x p lies on the plane and is orthogonal to n, i.e. n (x p) = 0. Therefore, the
plane can be described by
{x R3 : n x = n p},
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or
{(x, y, z) R3 : Ax + By + Cz = Ax0 + By0 + Cz0 }.
An equation of the plane is commonly written as
A(x x0 ) + B(y y0 ) + C(z z0 ) = 0
or
Ax + By + Cz = D,
where D = Ax0 + By0 + Cz0 .
Example 9. Consider R3 . Find the perpendicular distance form the point x to the plane
Ax + By + Cz = D.
Solution. First, we need to find an arbitrary point p on the plane. In order to do so, note
that A, B, and C cannot be all zero. For the easiness of demonstration in this problem,
D
let us assume that B 6= 0. Then by taking x = z = 0, we solve that y = . In other
B


D
words, p = 0, , 0 .
B
Let be the angle between x p and the normal of the plane n = (A, B, C). The
desired perpendicular distance is
kx pkknk| cos |
kx pk| cos | =
knk




n
.
= (x p)
knk 

Example 10. Find an equation of the plane that passes through (1, 2, 0), (0, 1, 3), and
(2, 1, 1).
Solution. A normal to the plane is




n = (0, 1, 3) (1, 2, 0) (2, 1, 1) (1, 2, 0)


 bi
bj k
b


= 1 3 3 
3 1 1 
= (0, 8, 8).
Hence, the plane is
{(x, y, z) R3 : (0, 8, 8) (x, y, z) = (0, 8, 8) (1, 2, 0)}.
Therefore, the equation of the plane is
8y 8z = 16,
or
y + z = 2.
(You may also solve this problem by letting the equation of the plane as
Ax + By + C = D
and setting up three equations through plugging the three points into the equation.)

5

Example 11. Find a vector parallel to the line of intersection of the planes
4x + y 3z = 6
2x + 4y z = 1.
Solution. Note that the line of intersection is orthogonal to the normals of the two planes.
Hence, a desired vector is


 bi bj k
b


(4, 1, 3) (2, 4, 1) =  4 1 3 = (11, 10, 18).
2 4 1
(You may also solve this problem by finding the parametric form p + tv of the line of
intersection using the method in Example 7. Then v is the desired answer.)

Example 12. Find the angle between the two planes
4x + y 3z = 6
and
2x + 4y z = 1.
Solution. Note that the angle between the two planes is the same as the angle between
the normals of the two planes. Hence, the angle is




(4, 1, 3) (2, 4, 1)
1
1
1

= cos
= cos
1.6136 (in radian measure).
k(4, 1, 3)kk(2, 4, 1)k
546




1
1
1
1

(Notice that you may also answer with cos

= cos
.)
546
546

We can also write a plane in parametric form
{p + t1 v1 + t2 v2 : t1 , t2 R}.
There are two free parameters since there are two degrees of freedom on a plane.
Example 13. Let P be the plane defined by
x 2y + 3z = 4.
Find the parametric form of P .
Solution. Let y = t1 and z = t2 be two free parameters. Then x = 2t1 3t2 + 4. Hence,
the parametric form of P is
{(2t1 3t2 + 4, t1 , t2 ) : t1 , t2 R},
or
{(4, 0, 0) + t1 (2, 1, 0) + t2 (3, 0, 1) : t1 , t2 R}.